Моя любовь (My Love)
by Dancingqueen4Life
Summary: After the battle of Manhattan, things have settled down for Clint and Natasha. How does married life suit them? This is my first fanfic for these two, and I hope you like it. Rating is for language mostly. There is some hinting at adult themes, but it's nothing too smutty. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I don't own anything recognizable. All characters are property of Marvel. Also, this is my first fanfic about these two, and I really hope you like it. As always, please R&R!**

Clint could feel someone watching him as he slept. He groggily opened one eye, and saw Natasha sitting next to him on their bed, with her legs crossed.

"Hi, Natasha."  
"Hi Clint."

She wasn't letting on what was wrong, so Clint figured he better ask, in case he'd inadvertently done something again.

"What's wrong, Tash?"  
"I'm hungry."

Ah, of course she was.

"Why don't you go to the kitchen? Pepper just went to the store yesterday."  
"I did. The boys ate all the food. "  
"Even with Thor in town, I find that hard to believe."  
"Well, they took all the good food."

Clint suppressed the urge to laugh; judging by her tone, Nat had been waiting awhile for him to wake up so she could tell him her predicament.

"How long have you been staring?"  
"43 minutes."  
"You could have woken me up, Tasha."

He could imagine her shaking her head "You needed sleep. Fury might call you on a mission."

Clint sighed. Of course Nat was worried about him getting sleep before a mission, she had been ever since Budapest.

"I told Fury, no more surprise missions, remember?"  
"That doesn't mean he won't do it."  
"He hasn't sprung a mission on me in the last month."  
"Still."

Clint decided against arguing, and they fell into silence.

"Clint" She whined  
"Mmm?"  
"I'm hungry." Still whining.  
"Mmk. I'm up."  
"You can't be up if your eyes are closed."

Clint opened his eyes fully, and looked straight at the redheaded assassin sitting next to him.

"Better?"  
"Much."  
"What kind of food do you want?"

At his question, Natasha swung her left leg over his body so that she was straddling his lap. She placed her hands on his chest, and leaned in to him slightly.

Clint tried hard not to get aroused, knowing that it wouldn't end well.

"I want pizza."  
"What kind?"  
Nat leaned in again and in a husky voice, with her lips against the base of his throat, she began talking

"I want a pizza with ham, pineapple, anchovies, and olives. Oh, and some peperoni too. And a chocolate milkshake."  
"Alright, I'll go get it."

Clint struggled to get up, but Nat wouldn't move from her position. Assuming that she was opting to stay there, he put his hand on her back, and sat up carefully.

His assumptions were correct, and once they were upright, she positioned herself more comfortably, and _good lord, did the woman know what she did to him?_

Clint knew he had to get out of there fast before he made an even bigger fool of himself.

"Nat?"  
"Yeah?"  
"If you want me to order your pizza, you're gonna need to let me pee."

Natasha huffed, but slid off of him. He walked into the bathroom and closed the door, where he was finally able to take care of himself.

Natasha remained sitting on their bed, smiling to herself. It had taken a lot at first, but she was finally comfortable in her body again, and now she couldn't keep her hands off Clint.

When he reemerged, his face was a little flushed, and Natasha knew _exactly _what he'd been up to.

"Better?"  
"Yeah."

He came over to the bed and placed a kiss on her head, intending to make her walk to the kitchen. Natasha had other ideas however, and wrapped her legs around Clint's waist.

"Nat?"  
"Mmm?"  
"What are you doing?"  
"My legs hurt."

Clint chuckled softly, but leaned down slightly to lift her into his arms. Her legs locked behind his hips, and her arms encircled his neck.

She thought, for the umpteenth time, how much he had to trust her, to let her put her arms around his neck, and her equally deadly legs around his hips. Then again, he really had to have trusted her in order to marry her.

Natasha smiled to herself as she thought about their wedding. It had taken Clint a while to finally figure out that she actually loved him- even if it _was_ for children- and that she wanted to marry him. Not that she made it easy to figure out.

"Whatcha thinking about?"  
"Nothing."

They fell into silence as Clint continued their way to the kitchen, where he set her on the counter top.

It was a huge kitchen, able to easily accommodate the demi god, super soldier, two geniuses, two master assassins, and the woman who kept them all sane and fed. Plus the occasional guest or twenty.

Clint asked JARVIS to find him a pizza place that was open at this time of night, and when he had, Clint called in Natasha's order, plus his own.

They opted to pick it up, and went to the garage to get a car. Tony had told all of them that they were free to use any car that they wanted, as long as they didn't do too much damage, so it was no big deal.

They held hands in the car, and Natasha even leaned over and kissed him at a red light or two.

They arrived back at Stark Tower roughly 25 minutes later, and made their way up to the living area that was assigned to them.

Everyone had their own floor, designed just for them. There were also floors that housed things that multiple people enjoyed.

Clint and Natasha shared a floor, and their floor had three bedrooms, a common area, a kitchen that was much smaller than the main one, and the shooting range- complete with targets for both of them.

Natasha sat down on one of the couches in the common area, and Clint followed, placing the food on the coffee table.

Natasha opened the first box, and gave him a wry look.

"What? I got hungry."

She smiled and passed him his peperoni pizza. She opened the second box, and just as quickly, slammed the lid back down. Clint looked at the grimace on her face, and chuckled softly.

"I don't want to eat it." She whined.  
"I know, that's why I got such a big pepperoni pizza. We can give that one to Thor, he'll eat anything."

Natasha got up to place the pizza in the fridge so it wouldn't stink up the place, and went back to sit by Clint. She snuggled into his side, and curled her feet under her as she began eating.

They ate in silence, and Clint said he was going to put the other pizza in the main kitchen. Natasha nodded, and sat up slightly to stretch.

When Clint came back up to their floor, he found his wife lying on the couch. He smiled as he walked over to her and bent down to wake her up. She smiled sleepily, before holding her arms out, like a child would if they wished to be carried.

Clint obliged, sliding an arm under her knees, and the other behind her shoulders as he picked her up and made his way to their room.

When they got there, he set her gently on her side of the bed, before pulling off the clothes he had put on to get the pizza. He crawled into bed in just a pair of boxers, and draped his arm across Natasha's waist. She snuggled back into his chest, and Clint curled himself around her.

It was how they always slept. It started the first time they had shared a bed- long before they had sex. They were on a mission in some god-forsaken place. The mission had gone south, and they'd gone back to the seedy hotel they were staying in to await extraction.

There had been only one bed, and when Clint went to sleep on the floor, Natasha had asked for him to share the bed, saying that she was cold, and his body heat would warm her. Clint knew that she was afraid they would be found, and that being near him made her feel safe. Not that she'd ever admit it. Clint had agreed, and had tucked himself around her, just as he was now.

Clint smiled into his wife's hair at the memory of their first night in the same bed. He leaned down slightly to press a kiss to the back of her neck, before gently stroking the ever growing bump at his wife's stomach.

"Я люблю тебя Наташа, и я тоже люблю тебя, мой маленький ребенок."*

With that, Clint fell asleep.

Natasha heard what her husband had said, and smiled to herself

"Я так люблю тебя больше Клинт."**

She closed her eyes, and fell asleep, with the steady beat of Clint's heart lulling her into peaceful dreams.

**A/N: Well, I hope you liked it. Please R&R!**

**Russian (according to google translate):**

*** I love you, Natasha, and I love you too, my little baby**

****I love you more, Clint.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

Natasha awoke the next morning to someone softly drawing patterns on her spine. She had to fight the urge to snap the fingers of the person behind her, like she had to every morning.

Clint knew that Nat was awake, and he knew that she was going through her morning ritual of fighting the (few) instincts that still lingered from her time in the Red Room. He also knew that if he said anything before she'd eliminated the voices, that there was a risk she could kill him. Or at least break a few bones.

Natasha finished, and turned around to squirm her way into Clint's arms. It was the safest place she could ever think of, and she knew that Clint's strong arms would always be able to keep her safe.

They also weren't bad at trapping her against the mattress, which he was doing now.

In the past, Natasha would have easily wiggled her way free, but wiggling when she was 4 ½ months pregnant wasn't the easiest thing. Even if her bump wasn't too big, wiggling around felt wrong, and wasn't something she enjoyed doing anymore.

So she let her husband kiss her, just like every morning, before she got up to go brush her teeth. When she returned, they decided to eat breakfast in the big kitchen, with everyone else.

They typically split their time between their floor and the floors that were for everyone's use, but since the pregnancy, they'd decided to spend more and more time alone.

When they walked into the kitchen, they found Tony, Bruce, Thor, and Steve sitting around the table, with Pepper at the stove. From the smell, Natasha was able to determine that pancakes were for breakfast.

She crinkled her nose; she had never been overly fond of the rip-off American pancakes before she was pregnant, and was even less fond of them now.

Pepper must have known how Natasha felt, because she pulled out a plate that had been warming in the oven.

Natasha smiled when she smelled eggs and cheese, and good lord, was that bacon _and _mushrooms.

"Благослови вас. Ты святой."*

Pepper just smiled at Natasha as she walked over to sit next to Steve. She had no idea what Natasha had just said-having only learned very basic things in Russian- but she assumed it was nice, since it had been said with a smile.

Clint came up to Pepper and whispered in her ear, "Bless you, you're a saint."

Pepper nodded, and turned to Natasha, who was shoveling the omlette into her mouth

"Всегда пожалуйста"**

Natasha looked up and smiled at Pepper, completely oblivious that she was speaking Russian. It happened on occasion; she was so used to the way it sounded, and English still felt funny to speak sometimes, that it just rolled off her tongue without her noticing.

Tony looked up for the first time since Nat had sat down, and noticed that she wasn't eating pancakes like the rest of them

"Hey, you said no special breakfast!"  
"Are you the one growing a baby?"  
"No."  
"Then unless you'd like to start, stop complaining."

Tony started to say something, but Steve shot him a look, so he shut up. Clint came to sit next to Natasha, and leaned in to kiss the top of her head. She smiled at him, while all the boys started groaning. Nat didn't pay them any mind, since she knew they were all joking. It was something that they did whenever she and Clint kissed in front of them.

"Ugh. Must you do that at the table?"  
"Eww, you're going to get cooties!"  
"What are these cooties of which you speak? They sound like formidable foes."

Tony was smart and kept his mouth shut, although it may have also had something to do with the look Pepper was giving him.

"Казалось бы, что плейбой знает, что он не получает, если он держит это."*** Natasha murmured to Clint.  
"Казалось бы, кстати, не так ли?"****  
"Is the Russian necessary?"  
"Huh?" Natasha looked up in confusion.  
"You've been speaking Russian since you walked in!"  
"Oh. Sorry."

Breakfast quieted down after that, and everyone went back to eating. When Clint finished his food, he stood up and took both his and Natasha's plates to the sink. He came back over to her and whispered in her ear

"Вы хотите уйти? Потому что я могу думать о некоторых мероприятиях мы могли бы сделать вместо этого."*****

Natasha nodded, her eyes lighting up.

"Seriously! Enough with the Russian!" Tony exclaimed.

"Trust me, you didn't want to know what that one meant."

Tony's face paled, and Natasha laughed at his expression. She stood up, and followed Clint back to their room.

When they got there, Clint suggested that they go for a walk, and Nat agreed.

They showered (together) and were getting dressed when Clint heard Natasha cursing in Russian.

When he asked her what was wrong, she started explaining in _very _fast Russian, and Clint was slightly lost.

"Nat… Tasha…Tash! Natasha!"

Natasha stopped talking abruptly, and looked at him curiously

"That's too much Russian, way too fast. I'm not a native speaker, remember?"  
"Sorry."  
"Now, what's bothering you?"  
"I don't have any clothes!"  
"Nat, I'm looking at your closet! There are plenty of clothes."  
"They don't fit!"  
"Then borrow some of mine."

He lightly squeezed her bottom as he walked out of the closet to finish getting dressed. He remembered when they realized that they had to tell everyone.

_"Ugh!"  
"Nat, what's wrong?"  
"I can't get it to zip!"_

_Clint walked over and tried the zipper as well. It was definitely stuck._

_They were dressing for a mission Fury had given them. Clint was ready to go, and had been waiting on Natasha to finish._

_They had been married for about a year, and Clint had just asked to not be given any spontaneous missions. He was entirely against Natasha going on this mission, but they didn't really have a choice, unless they wanted to tell everyone that she was pregnant before they went out to bust a drug cartel._

___"What are we going to do?"  
__"We have to tell them. You can't very well go on the mission like _that_."_

_He was right. Her stomach was sticking out slightly, and her breasts were barely covered._

_She pulled on her regular clothes, and they went to tell everyone their news, since they couldn't put it off anymore._

_They'd been excited for Clint and Natasha of course, even Fury-although he wouldn't show it. The plan had to be re-worked, but soon the group was off, and Natasha was left in Stark Tower to await their return, along with Pepper._

The mission had been a success, and Natasha had been on the sidelines for the other missions they'd been on.

Clint was smiling to himself as he thought about his wife in the cat suit that wouldn't zip properly. Natasha emerged from their closet, wearing a pair of his sweatpants and one of his t-shirts. She came to sit on his lap

"What are you smiling about?"  
"Just memories, that's all моя любовь."******

Natasha smiled, before tugging him off the bed and leaving the room. They made their way out of the tower and over to central park.

Clint walked with his arm protectively around Natasha's shoulders, and she had her arm wrapped around his waist. And both of them had weapons within easy reach. They weren't expecting any problems, but neither of them was comfortable without a gun close at hand.

After an hour of wandering, Natasha's feet were sore, so Clint led them over to a bench, and sat down. She sat so that her feet were elevated somewhat, and her upper body was pressed against his arm.

Clint moved his arm to wrap around her upper body, pulling her tightly against his side.

They sat like that for a while, and numerous people that walked by smiled at them, and it was hard not to. They looked so cute.

Pregnancy made Natasha look even smaller than she was, and the way Clint was sitting made him seem even more muscular. Just as Natasha was about to fall asleep, Clint suggested that they go home, so she could nap in their bed. She smiled and nodded, and allowed Clint to pull her to her feet.

She didn't really need the help, but it was nice that he wanted to.

Natasha barely made it to their bedroom, and had just enough energy to take off the sweatpants, and pull on a pair of Clint's boxers, and crawl into bed before she conked out. Clint lay next to her, playing with her hair, thinking of all the adventures they had gotten themselves into. Before long, he fell asleep next to his wife, with his hand still in her hair.

**A/N: I hope you liked it! Please leave reviews!**

**Russian (according to google translate):**

***Bless you. you're a saint**

****Anytime**

*****It would seem that Playboy knows that he's not getting any if he keeps it up.**

******It would seem that way, wouldn't it?**

*******You want to leave? Because I can think of some of the activities we could do instead.**

********My love**


	3. Chapter 3

"This is fucking ridiculous! It's bullshit, that's what it is!"  
"Tasha, you know there's nothing we can do about it."  
"Nothing we can do about it my ass! Я собираюсь убить этого человека!"*  
"Tasha, you can't _kill_ Fury."  
"Oh, no? Watch me."

Clint sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He wasn't _really_ opposed to Natasha killing Fury, but he knew other people would be.

"Clint, he said he wasn't sending you on any more spontaneous missions!"  
"Technically this isn't spontaneous. I have three days…"  
"Это не дело! Три дня, чтобы подготовиться к месячной миссии просто дерьмо! И ярость знает об этом!"  
"Tash, remember when we said our yelling would happen in English? You blend your words when you're yelling, and I really don't think you just said you really want to eat pig bladder…"  
"Clint, that doesn't even make sense!" Clint just cocked and eyebrow at his wife, which she took to mean that he wanted her to tell him what was wrong in _English_.

Natasha sighed "Fine. I said 'that's not the point! Three days to prepare for a MONTH long mission is just crap! And Fury knows it!'"  
"Ah."

Clint went over to his wife, and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I'll be fine Tasha, I've been on longer missions by myself."  
"I know. But it would be nice if Fury would give more warning."

Clint smiled at his wife, before kissing her forehead softly.

"You wanna do something today?"

Nat nodded, and Clint grabbed her hand and pulled her from their bedroom. They discussed options for the day, before settling on a day curled up on the couch watching movies.

They were halfway through the 4th movie, when JARVIS interrupted.

"Agent Barton, Director Fury is on the phone, and he says he needs to speak with you immediately."  
"All right. I'll be back soon Tash."

Clint kissed her head before making his way to the phone to talk to director Fury. As he walked away, he thought he heard Natasha say something that sounded suspiciously like '_really_ gonna kill that man.' But he ignored her.

Natasha stared at the T.V. until she heard her husband cussing, loudly, in- wait a minute, was that _Irish_? Since when did Clint even speak Irish?

"Clint?"  
"Níl a fhios agam cén fáth a bhfuil mé iontas. Ar ndóigh, is mian sé gach rud a athrú. Is dócha go mbeadh saighead a soicéad súl a bheith ró-soiléir, go mbeadh briseadh a mhuineál a bheith níos glaine i bhfad, cé go bhfuil rud Tasha ar ... b'fhéidir timpiste ghluaisteáin spontáineach ... a bheadh a dhéanamh go hálainn-"***  
"CLINT!"  
"Wha- oh, sorry Tash. Did you want something?"  
"Just wondering why you were talking about breaking necks. In _Irish_ no less. How do you even know it?"  
"I could ask you the same thing. I did a stint there a while back, and I always liked how it sounded.""That doesn't explain breaking necks. And how did _I _get dragged into it?"  
"Fury changed plans. I leave in the morning."  
"WHAT?"  
"My thoughts exactly."  
"You're right, breaking his neck is my style, I like the car accident bit though. Need some help?"  
"Nah, I'll just put in for paternity leave when I get back. I won't go on any missions I don't want to be on."

Natasha smiled at her husband, before pulling him back down on the couch to finish watching their movie, putting all murder plans aside for the time being.

They finished the movie, and decided that they wanted to be alone that night, so Clint made her dinner. She sat on the counter as he moved about the kitchen making macaroni and cheese. She had to admit, the Americans did have _some_ good ideas when it came to food.

"You're adding bacon, right?"  
"Do you want me to?"  
Natasha just looked at him.

"Right, stupid question."

Clint started cooking the bacon, and before long, the sound of bacon grease popping, and the smell of bacon filled their small kitchen.

"Shit! Ow, that fucking hurt!"  
"Clint, what did you do?"  
"Bacon grease landed on me."

He turned to face her, and Natasha saw an angry red spot appearing close to his right chest.

"C'mere you."

Clint walked toward her, and she gave him a hug.

"Вы хотите, чтобы я поцеловал ее и сделать ее лучше?"*** She asked in a husky voice.

Natasha didn't wait for her husband's reply, before gently pressing her lips to the spot where he'd been burned. She moved her mouth up along his neck, and Clint groaned at the feeling.

Her lips finally captured his, and they groaned into each other's mouths. When they finally broke apart, they were breathing heavily, and Clint pressed his forehead against his wife's

"Tash, as much as I'd love to continue this, dinner's ready. And I'm hungry."

Natasha pouted, but let her husband escape the confines of her legs, after he promised they'd continue later.

Clint brought her a plate of food, and sat on the counter next to her. They ate in relative silence. When they'd finished, Clint took their plates and put them in the dishwasher. He turned back to Natasha, who had her arms out again, indicating that he had to carry her.

Clint chuckled as he picked up his wife, and she wrapped her legs around him as they made their way up to their bedroom.

When Clint closed the door, he turned around and pressed Natasha's back against the door as his lips pressed firmly against hers, before trailing down her neck. He stopped at the point where her neck and shoulder met, leaving a hickey for her to look at when he was gone.

"Mmm, Clint, bed."

He walked her over to the bed, before placing her gently on the bed. His hands crept under the hem of her shirt, before lifting it over her head. He smiled when he saw that she was missing some clothing

"Tash, you know you're not wearing a bra, right?"  
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. My boobs hurt this morning, so I didn't feel like putting one on. Are you complaining?"  
"Not at all."

He kissed her, while his hand trailed down to the waistband of her sweatpants, pausing briefly at her bump and kissing it. When his hands finally got to the top of her pants, his fingers crept inside, and freed her of the pants.

"Tash?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Is there a reason you don't have any underwear on? Did your boobs hurt too much for them too?"  
"Yeah."

He chuckled at her response, and the look on her face told him that she was going the innocent-girl route. She was going to give him that look until he moved on. So he did the most logical thing that popped into his head.

He took his shirt off.

"I'm not wearing a bra either."

At his statement, Natasha laughed freely, and Clint was reminded why it was his favorite sound in the world. It was clear, it was unguarded, and it was _Natasha_.

He kissed her again, before the two of them continued not thinking about what tomorrow would mean, and focused on each other for the rest of the night.

**A/N: I chose to have Clint speaking Irish, because I went to Ireland just last summer, and I think that Irish sounds lovely. To anyone that speaks Irish, I'm sorry if it's wrong, I just used Google translate, just as I do with the Russian bits.**

**Reviews are always appreciated, and they keep me motivated to write more chapters.**

**Russian:  
*I'm going to kill that man!**

****This is not the point! Three days to prepare for the month mission just crap! And fury knows it!**

*****You want me to kiss it and make it better?**

**Irish:**

*****I do not know why I'm surprised. Of course, he wants to change everything. An arrow to the eye socket would be too obvious, breaking his neck would be much cleaner, although that's Tasha's thing ... maybe spontaneous car accident.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Reviews are loverly, and they make me very happy. :) So you should leave one. ;)**

Natasha spent the first week of Clint's mission moping around. She hardly left their bedroom, unless she went to sit in Clint's nest.

The other Avengers would have thought she was dead, if they hadn't seen her passing by. They all made attempts to talk to her, but she mostly ignored them.

On the ninth day of the mission, Natasha was sitting up in the nest, when she heard a noise behind her. For a split second, she thought it was Clint, that he was back early. But that thought was dispelled quickly when she caught sight of the redhead behind her.

"I'm fine, Pepper. You didn't need to come up here."  
"I did, actually. Because I didn't feel like going into your bedroom, and that's the only other place you go. By the way, how the hell did you get up here? I'm not pregnant, and it was damn near impossible."  
"Practice."

Pepper nodded, and came to sit by Natasha. When she sat down, Natasha leaned her head on Pepper's shoulder, and closed her eyes.

"Why did it take so long for someone to come talk to me?"  
"I would have come sooner, but I was on a business trip. I actually left early, because Tony said that you had been moping around, and the guys tried to cheer you up. He also said at one point that you threatened to kill one or more of them."  
"Huh. I don't remember that part."

Pepper laughed, before standing up and pulling Natasha to her feet.

"C'mon Tash. We're gonna do girl stuff."  
"I don't know how."  
"That's why I'm gonna teach you."

Natasha allowed Pepper to pull her to the ladder, and the two girls climbed out of the nest. They made their way to Natasha's living room, because Pepper could tell that Natasha wasn't ready to be around everyone yet.

Natasha sat down on the couch while Pepper started going through movies.

"Which one?" She was holding _The Notebook _and _Titanic_.  
"I don't know, I've never seen them."

Pepper looked shocked, as if she'd never met someone who hadn't seen at least one of them.

She put _The Notebook_ on to play, and went to sit next to Natasha

"You're gonna love it, I promise, Nat."

Natasha seriously doubted that, but nodded anyway.

By the end of the movie, Pepper was crying, and Natasha was confused, and she hadn't even liked the movie.

Once Pepper stopped crying, they decided that it was time for them to go to bed, so Pepper gave her a hug goodbye, and went down to her floor.

Natasha walked to her bedroom, and pulled on a pair of Clint's boxers, and one of his sweatshirts, and crawled into bed. Once she was situated, she grabbed his pillow, and held it close to her chest, so she could at least pretend that she was holding her husband.

The next week passed quickly. Pepper took it upon herself to cheer Natasha up. Everyday she came to hang out with Natasha, and the girls watched movie after movie.

Pepper had convinced her to watch _Titanic_, and although she thought it was better than _The Notebook_, Natasha wasn't impressed.

Natasha made Pepper watch the entire Bourne movie series, and was delighted when Pepper said that she actually enjoyed them. They also watched Charlie's Angels, but that was purely for comedy, because Natasha couldn't help but laugh at the acting and the stunts. Pepper had also been able to get Natasha to eat at least one meal a day with the rest of the Avengers.

On day 14, the girls had gone to get pedicures, and then came back to the tower to watch another movie. Pepper had said she wanted to see _27 Dresses_, and Natasha was willing to humor her.

The girls were in stiches by the time the movie was over. Part of it was because the movie actually was funny, but the bigger part was because they had started making up their own lines for characters, which made the movie much more entertaining.

"You're right Pep, that was a great movie, I really liked it."  
"So did I."

The voice that answered Natasha's statement didn't belong to Pepper. Natasha heard it, but didn't want to believe it.

She turned around to find her Hawk leaning against the elevator that opened onto their living room.

Natasha squealed before jumping up and running at her husband. She threw herself at him, just as she realized the look on his face.

"What happened?"  
"'M alright."  
Nat gave him a look that told him she wasn't buying it, but she decided not to push it.

Pepper came over and gave Clint a hug before leaving the couple by themselves.

Natasha pulled Clint to their bathroom, and sat him on the bathtub. She left quickly to get the first aid kit, and came back to see her husband standing in the middle of the bathroom, looking in the mirror.

"Sit." He sat back down, and Natasha could tell that he was seriously hurt.  
"List 'em"

Clint sighed, but upon looking at Natasha and her cocked eyebrow, he started talking

"Dislocated shoulder, sprained wrist, bruised rib… or two. That's it."

Natasha nodded before making her way over to where her husband sat.

"You overly fond of this shirt?"

When Clint shook his head, Natasha cut him out of the shirt, to save his shoulder the extra pain. Her fingers moved to his belt, and undid it before pulling his pants down.

She reached into the first aid kit and handed her husband some painkillers, along with a glass of what he assumed was water. Natasha heard his sputtering as he downed the liquid, and smiled to herself at her trickery.

"Something tells me that wasn't part of the kit."  
"Hmm?"  
"The vodka you just gave me. And Russian vodka by the taste of it. Definitely not part of a first aid kit."

Natasha just fixed him with her best innocent face before moving back towards him.

"Shoulder first?"  
Clint gritted his teeth "Yeah."

Natasha moved over to him and placed on hand on his forearm, and the other on the back of his shoulder.

She leaned in and pressed her lips firmly against his, allowing his hormones to take over. Just as Clint was beginning to get distracted, he heard a loud pop, followed by intense pain in his shoulder. He broke the kiss in order to say a few curses. It didn't hurt nearly as bad as Clint knew it would have if he hadn't been distracted, but it still _really_ hurt.

"Sorry, I tried to distract you."  
"It's ok. It actually worked for a little while."

Nat smiled as she kissed his shoulder lightly.

"What next? Ribs or wrist?"  
"Ribs."

She nodded, before gently pressing her fingers to his chest. Clint hissed at the pain, but Natasha couldn't feel any breaks or cracks.

"Ribs are good."  
"Could've fooled me."

Natasha grinned before moving to wrap his wrist, which she had already determined was only a slight sprain.

When she was done, she sat next to her husband, and leaned gently against his side.

"List 'em."

Natasha laughed, but responded anyway.

"Sore feet, sore ankles, sore back. My clothes don't fit, my boobs _ache_, and _your _child makes me go to the bathroom every 10 minutes."

Clint smiled at his wife. He stood up, and pulled her up along with him, before leading her to the bedroom.

"You. Bed. I'm going to change, but I'll be back in a sec."

He went to the closet and pulled on a new pair of boxers before making his way back to their bed.

Natasha was lying on her pillow, so Clint picked her feet up and placed them in his lap. He picked up one foot, and began rubbing it, before doing the same to the other foot. He did his best to ease the ache in his wife's feet, and judging by Natasha's moans, he'd done a good job.

He slid his feet off his lap, before coming under the covers, and enfolding Natasha in his arms. She closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but why are you home so early?"  
"I got sent home."  
"Why?"  
"Did you see my injuries?"

Natasha smiled and laughed

"Yeah, I did."  
"Fury sent me home. I would have argued, but I really wanted to come home."  
"You did?"  
"Of course I did. I kind of missed you." He kissed the tip of her nose as he spoke.  
"I kind of missed you too." She smiled and kissed his lips gently.

They lay there together for a while just listening to each other breathe.

"Did you get the target?"  
"One of them. Then I had an issue getting off the roof, the fire escape fell out from under me, and I fell about 10 to 15 feet. That's when I got sent home."

Natasha nodded. She wanted to worry, but she knew that he'd be annoyed if she started worrying about him.

"I talked to Fury when I got back. No more missions for a while. I'm sticking around until that little thing is at least a year old."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah."  
"There's just one problem with that."  
"Oh." Nat laughed softly at his hurt tone.  
"Yeah."  
"What's the problem?"

Nat smiled as she leaned in to whisper in his ear

"You're gonna be sticking around until the _two _little things are at least a year old."

She promptly rolled over so her back was pressed against his warm chest as she feigned sleep, listening to Clint's reaction.

"Twins? That's wonderful! I'm definitely not leaving until they're a year old. I love you so much Tash, and I love our babies too."

Nat smiled as she leaned into Clint's chest, and his arms tightened around her.

"Вы только что сделали меня самым счастливым человеком в мире, Таш. Я так тебя люблю."

With that, he fell asleep.

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one! :)**

**Russian:**

***You have just made me the happiest man in the world, Tash. I love you so much.**


	5. Chapter 5

Now that Clint was back home, Natasha's mood changed drastically.

While they still kept to themselves most of the time, Nat was more sociable with the rest of her teammates, and they ate lunch together everyday in the main kitchen.

On one night in particular, Nat went up to Tony and Pepper's floor.

Tony, and the rest of the avengers-except Clint and Natasha- were on a mission, and since Clint had gotten back, Natasha had hardly seen Pepper.

Pepper was shocked to see Natasha when she opened the door to their apartment.

"Tasha, what's wrong?"  
"You didn't come to watch a movie. Clint's doing target practice, and I was waiting for you to come down so we could watch a movie."  
"You don't have to do that Nat. I know you want to spend time with your husband."  
"I also want to spend time with my best friend."  
"I'm your best friend?" Pepper sounded excited at the prospect.  
"Of course Pep! Although, I don't have many friends, only like 6, and you're the only girl. So it's not as great as it sounds."

Pepper laughed, before stepping aside to let Natasha in.

"What are we watching?"  
"I found a new movie. It's called _Tuck Everlasting_."  
"That sounds interesting."  
Natasha shrugged, and went to sit on the couch while Pepper started the movie.

While they were waiting for the movie to start, Natasha decided to share her news.  
"We went to the doctor today."  
"Oh? Did you find out anything exciting?"  
"The twins are going to be identical girls. Does that count?"  
Pepper gave an excited squeal "Yes that counts! Do you have any ideas for names?"  
"Kind of. I know I want something Russian, and Clint does too. I think. But we haven't picked out actual names yet."  
Pepper only nodded, because the movie had just started.

Both girls were crying by the end of the movie. They continued their crying, before Natasha went back down to her and Clint's floor.

Natasha found her Hawk perched in his nest, and climbed up to join him. He gave her a quick kiss when she sat down, before sharing what was on his mind.

"I've been thinking."  
"I'll call the fire department."

Clint shot her a smile before continuing

"About names."  
"Oh."  
"And I've made a decision."  
"This should be good."  
Clint ignored her this time.

"I want Russian names. They're much prettier than American names. And I want our girls to be as Russian as possible."  
"What dies that mean?"  
"Well, Russian names, and also speaking Russian."  
Natasha smiled at her husband

"I was kind of thinking the same thing."  
"So, do we want to start picking names?"  
"Yeah. What names do you like?"  
"I like Anastasiya and Alekzandra."  
"I like those too. What other ones?"  
"Why am I doing all the thinking? You're the one who's actually Russian. You tell me some Russian names!"  
Natasha laughed at her husband's tone and expression.

"Ok. Well, I've always like the names Nadya, Viktoriya, Milena, and Stasia."  
"I like those names, but if we name one Anastasiya, we can's have the other one named Stasia or even have that be her middle name."  
"True."  
"My favorites are Viktoriya and Milena."  
"I like those ones too. So those are the names?"  
"Yes. Anastasiya Viktoriya and Alekzandra Milena Barton-Romanoff."  
"Wonderful. Now lets just hope that they look like me."  
"You wound me Romanoff. Am I not good-looking enough for you?"  
"You're gorgeous Barton, but I don't want my girls looking manly."  
"Fair enough."

They stood up, and made their way down from the nest.

"I'm hungry, Clint."  
"What do you want, Tash?"  
"Um, pasta."  
"Any particular kind?"  
"Spaghetti."  
Clint nodded, and the couple made their way to their kitchen. Clint lifted Natasha onto the counter, and set about cooking dinner.

They sat on the counter while they ate, since neither of them really liked the chairs at the kitchen table.

When they were done, Clint put the dishes in the dishwasher, before helping Natasha off the counter. They made their way to the living room to watch TV.

Natasha lay down with her head in Clint's lap. As he flipped through the channels, he stroked her hair absentmindedly.

They settled on a random crime show and began watching. The had that had been in Natasha's hair moved to her back and started drawing patterns, while his other hand moved to her hair to continue stroking it.

Clint Loved Natasha's hair. It was soft, and it smelled like gunpowder and her strawberry shampoo.

Clint got caught up in the drama of the show, and was glad to know that the person he had pegged as the killer was the actual killer. He was about to ask his wife what she wanted to watch next when he realized that she had fallen asleep. He lifted her head gently, so that he could stand up.

"Clint?"  
"Shh. Just go back to sleep, baby."  
Natasha mumbled something incoherently, and Clint chuckled.

Clint picked Natasha up, something that was made much easier because of his muscles, and carried her to their bedroom.

He laid her on the bed, and gently shook her awake.

"Hmm?"  
"Sorry, Sweetie. Do you want to put pajamas on?"

Natasha nodded, so Clint went to the closet and grabbed two pairs of boxers, and one of his sweatshirts.

He made his way back to the bed, and found that his wife was sleeping. He didn't have the heart to wake her up again, so he gently pulled off her t-shirt and sweatpants. He put the boxers on her, and leaned down to gently kiss her baby bump twice, once for each of his little girls.

He managed to get the sweatshirt on her without too much issue. He tossed the dirty clothes in the hamper, before crawling into the bed with his wife.

He pulled her tightly against his chest, and kissed the back of her neck.

"Я люблю тебя, Наташа."*

He then curled his body around her, just like every night.

He fell asleep listening to his wife's deep, steady breaths.

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one! :)**

**Russian:**

***I love you, Natasha**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Reviews keep me motivated, and make me write more chapters more quickly.**

**Also, there's some mild language, but given the circumstances of what happens, I think it was warranted.**

The next few months passed quickly enough. As Natasha's due date approached, she became snarky, and more likely to lash out at certain members of the Avengers.

Clint did his best to keep the team away from Natasha when she was in one of her moods. Pepper was the only person Natasha never lashed out at, although there were times when she wanted to.

Like the day Pepper insisted on taking her lunch. Pepper was happy for some reason or another, and it was starting to wear on Natasha's nerves.

"Pepper, what are you so God-damned happy about?"  
"Well, I was going to wait to tell you, but since you asked _so _nicely, I'll tell you now. I'm pregnant!"  
Natasha's attitude changed immediately.

"Oh Pepper! That's wonderful!"  
"Thanks. I told Tony this morning, and he's ecstatic."  
"Sorry I was such a bitch earlier."  
"Don't worry about it. It just means that you can't get mad when I get bitchy later."  
Natasha laughed with Pepper; suddenly very glad she had Pepper as a friend.

When they got to the restaurant, Natasha told Pepper about her favorite game, and the girls played.

"Oh! That guy, right there. He's an FBI agent- but he works for the Irish mob."  
"Really? That's scandalous Pepper."  
Pepper laughed, and continued. "That's not all, Tasha. He also has 4 wives, and 43 children."  
"Oh, my. Really?"  
"Oh yes."

The girls laughed for a moment. When they stopped laughing, Natasha told Pepper about the time she and Clint played. They each said a different part of the person's life in a different language. Pepper seemed to think it didn't add much, but Natasha was adamant that it added a new level to the game.

They made their way back to the tower, and went off to find their respective husbands. She finally found her husband, standing in the bathroom in no more than a towel. She snuck up behind him, and ripped the towel off his hips. Clint squeaked like a little girl, which caused Natasha to start laughing.

Clint put his boxers and jeans on while Natasha was laughing in front of him. She was shaking from her laughter, and Clint found the sight quite adorable.

Clint noticed two things suddenly. He noticed something wet on his foot, and he noticed that Natasha had stopped laughing.

"Tash, did you pee your pants?"  
When she didn't answer, Clint was more than a little worried. And the look on her face wasn't helping.

"Nat. Tash. Tasha. Natasha! What's wrong?"  
"Water."  
"What? You're not making sense!"  
"Water. Broke."  
Realization finally hit Clint

"Oh shit."  
Natasha met his eyes for only a second before the first contraction hit. She doubled over in pain-or as doubled over as she could be with her giant stomach- and let out a string of curses in Russian. Clint stared at her until she started yelling

"Собираетесь ли вы чертовски что-то делать?"*  
"Right, babies, hospital."  
Clint sprung into action. He ran into the closet and got the bag that she had packed.

"JARVIS, could you please tell Pepper to come to our floor? Tell her it's urgent."  
"Right away, sir."  
Clint led Natasha- who was still cursing in Russian, out to the couch.

Pepper arrived a minute later, clearly convinced that someone was dying.

"What's wro-oh." She had just seen Natasha lying on the couch.

Pepper seemed much calmer than Clint felt, and she directed the two of them to get downstairs.

"JARVIS, in 5 minutes please alert the rest of the team that Natasha has gone into labor, and we are on our way to the hospital."  
"Yes ma'am."  
The three of them made it down to the garage and Pepper climbed into the driver's seat, while Clint and Natasha climbed into the back seat. Natasha lay down with her head in Clint's lap.

Clint knew exactly when each contraction hit, because Natasha would dig her nails into his leg. If it weren't for that, and the steady stream of Russian curses, Clint wouldn't have been able to tell that she was in any kind of pain.

They made it to the hospital in record time, thanks to Pepper driving well above the speed limit. They checked in- using their real names for once- and were taken to a room. Pepper said she was going to wait for the boys to arrive, but then she'd come to Natasha's room.

When the doctor entered Natasha's room a short while later, he wasn't at all surprised to find Natasha yelling at Clint, but he was surprised to find that the yelling was taking place in Russian. Clint made a quiet comment in Russian, which caused Natasha to look up. When Natasha saw the doctor, she quieted down considerably, and crossed her arms over her chest.

"She's Russian." Clint said to answer the question in the doctor's eyes.

The doctor nodded "Does she want pain medication?"  
Clint turned to his wife, who appeared to be sulking, and asked her. When she didn't answer, he sighed. She was being difficult. Natasha would go through periods where she didn't speak anything but Russian, and she often didn't answer anything that wasn't spoken in Russian. Clint tried again, this time asking in his wife's native tongue

"Вы хотите обезболивающее?"**  
Natasha looked livid and started yelling

"Нет! Мне не нужно обезболивающее, когда они сломал запястье! Мне не нужно это, когда они вывихнул плечо. И я не нуждался в них, когда они взяли мои приложения без анестезии! Таким образом, нет! Я не хочу обезболивающее! Только обезболивающее я считаю, я даже не могу есть!"***  
"водка?"****  
"Да чертовски водки! Я чертовски русский, Клинт! Это то, что мы делаем!"*****

Clint turned toward the doctor, who looked slightly shaken

"She'll pass on the pain meds."  
The doctor nodded and left the room. A few moments later, Steve, Thor, Bruce, Tony, and Pepper appeared in the doorway.

"I told you this was her room. No one else can sound that pretty while screaming in Russian."  
"Tony." Pepper warned.

But it was too late Tony had just enough time to duck to avoid getting hit in the face with a metal bowl of some kind. He barely had time to register that before he heard the shouting

"Я бы наблюдать, если бы я тебя, Старк. Может быть, я собираюсь рожать, но я все еще могу убить тебя. Я мог бы сбить вас полный морфия, или я мог бы задушить вас. Или миллион других вещей!"******

"What did she say?"  
"Trust me, you don't want to know."

Tony nodded, and the group left the room. Pepper had told Natasha that she'd stay in the room with her and Clint, but Pepper was beginning to regret the decision.

The doctor returned, glad that not to hear anyone yelling. He checked Natasha's progress, and informed them that she was almost ready to push, they just had to wait for the nurses to arrive.

"Push? I thought you were doing a C-section."  
"Clint, do you really think that if she refused pain meds, she'd let them do a C-section?"  
"Нет, я бы не стал."*******

The nurses finally arrived, and the doctor instructed Natasha that when her next contraction hit, she had to push as hard as she could for ten seconds. Natasha nodded, and already looked like she wanted to murder everyone in the room.

When she finally started pushing, she also started yelling, but this time, her anger was aimed towards someone in particular

"Я тебя ненавижу. Ты слышишь меня? Я ненавижу тебя Клинта Бартона! Это полностью ваша вина! Ты чертовски ужасной человек, и я желаю вам никогда не спасло мне жизнь!"********

Clint was a little shocked at the last bit, but he told himself that she hadn't really meant it. It worked, but part of him still wondered.

The entire time she was pushing, she was screaming at him about what a horrible person he was, and how much she hated him.

After what seemed like hours, Clint heard a faint cry as his first daughter was born. The doctor held her up for a moment, before instructing Natasha to keep pushing.

Clint kissed the top of her head, which earned him an elbow in the ribs.

15 minutes later, Clint heard the same cry, as his second daughter was born. When they took her, the nurse gave him his oldest daughter to hold.

"Hi there. How are you, you gorgeous girl?"

"Name?"  
"Anastasiya Viktoriya Barton-Romanoff"  
The nurse nodded, and Clint took Anastasiya over to Natasha, so her mother could hold her.

The nurse then handed him his youngest daughter

"Hi baby girl."  
"Name?"  
"Alekzandra Milena Barton-Romanoff."  
The nurse nodded again, before stepping out of the room.

"I'm gonna go tell the guys. Are you ok with some visitors?"  
The couple just nodded, too entranced by their daughters to do anything else.

"Clint?"  
"Yeah, Tash?"  
"I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I'm very glad you saved my life, I really am."  
"I know."  
Clint bent down to kiss his wife's head just as their teammates walked in.

"Hi guys."  
"Hi."  
"You want to meet our daughters?"  
The looks on their faces told him that that had been a stupid question.

"Right. Well this," He gestured to the baby Natasha was holding "Is Anastasiya Viktoriya Barton-Romanoff. And this," He now gestured to the baby he was holding "Is Alekzandra Milena Barton-Romanoff."  
Both Clint and Natasha laughed as they heard grown men coo at their babies.

"We'll leave you four alone. See you later."  
"Bye."  
Clint smiled as their friends left the room. He really was glad to have them, most days anyways. Natasha scooted over on the bed to make room for Clint, and he sat down next to her, with his feet stretched out on the bed. The nurse came back in, ready to take the girls to the Nursery. The parents handed their children over, knowing that at least one of their teammates would watch to make sure that no one tried to do anything to harm them.

The nurse left the two of the alone again, and Clint could tell that Natasha was about to fall asleep, so he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, and pulled he closer to his chest. She laid her head on his chest, and fell asleep.

Although he was tired, Clint wouldn't allow himself to fall asleep. He would tell anyone that asked that he simply wasn't tired. But the real reason was that he didn't have room to curl around his wife.

And Clint Barton refused to go to sleep if there was any chance that something could happen to his wife, and he wasn't curled around her to protect her. So he settled for watching his wife sleep, which was just fine with him.

**A/N: If any of you don't want to go to google translate and look up all the Russian bits, it's mostly her telling Clint that she hates him, and that she doesn't want pain meds.**

***Are you going to fucking do something?  
******You want pain medication?  
*******No! I didn't have pain meds when they broke my wrist! I didn't need it when they dislocated my shoulder. And I did not need them when they took my appendix without anesthesia! So, no! I do not want pain meds! The only pain meds I want, I can't even Have!  
********Vodka?  
*********Yes fucking vodka! I'm fucking Russian, Clint! That's what we do!  
******I would watch if I were you, Stark. Maybe I'm going to give birth, but I can still kill you. I could knock you full of morphine, or I could strangle you. Or a million other things!  
*******No, I would not  
********I hate you. Do you hear me? I hate you, Clint Barton! This is entirely your fault! You're fucking horrible person, and I wish you had not saved my life!  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I can't decide if I like this chapter or not. I didn't really feel the need to write about everything right after the twins were born, so I just skipped ahead. If it seems like Clint and Natasha don't feel right, it's because I feel like while they're still much the same people, having children changed them slightly. They got more lovey-dovey, but not too much I hope. **

**Give a review if you liked it, loved it, or even if you hated it- but if you hate it, please be nice- so i know whether or not to continue with the change in Natasha and Clint. **

Clint was woken by a faint cry. He managed to get his eyes open just as another cry joined the first. He sighed before propping himself up on his forearms, before looking over at Natasha. She was lying on her back, but Clint knew she wasn't sleeping.

"You want me to get them?"  
"No. I get them in the middle of the night, remember? Go back to sleep sweetie."  
"Clint, _don't_ call me that."

Clint chuckled as he made his way out of bed and into the adjoined nursery. Needless to say, Clint and Natasha had been surprised when they came home to find that part of the wall connecting their room to the room next door had been busted out, and replaced with a door.

When he walked in, he made his way over to Anastasiya first. He knew that she never got hungry in the middle of the night, and only needed a diaper change, and a little cuddling, to get her back to sleep.

After he changed her, he held her to his chest and started singing softly in Russian. It was a lullaby that he'd heard Natasha singing to the girls once, and when he'd asked her about it, she told him that her mother had used to sing it to her when she was little. She also said that she had taken to singing it softly whenever the Red Room made her kill someone's children. It didn't have an exact English meaning, but Clint did know that it was about being safe.

By the time he finished singing, Anastasiya was sleeping again, so he walked over to her crib and gently laid her on top of her favorite blanket.

"Good night my sweet Ana. Sleep well my little love. Спокойной ночи мой сладкий Ana. Спи спокойно мой маленький любви."

Clint and Natasha had both taken to speaking in Russian and English to their daughters, just to see which language their first words would be in, and if they'd be the same language.

He made his way over to Alekzandra, who needed changing. He changed her quickly, and made his way to the rocking chair. Although both girls didn't wake up every night, one woke up every night, and when they did, it always took longer for Alekz to get back to sleep. They'd decided that Natasha would sleep through the night, and be in charge of feeding and whatnot during the day, and Clint would do the opposite.

Every time her looked at his girls, he was shocked at just how much they looked like their mother. They both had red hair- even if they were more like wisps- and they both shared her green eyes. He couldn't wait until they were older and he could start teaching them everything he knew. He didn't necessarily want them to follow in their parents' footsteps and become assassins, but he wanted them to have the option if they so chose.

When Alekz finally fell asleep, Clint kissed the top of her head, before placing her in her crib.

"Good night my little baby. Sleep well my sweet Alekz. Спокойной ночи мой малыш. Спи спокойно мой сладкий Alekz."

Clint made his way out of their bedroom, and climbed back into his bed. Natasha rolled over to face him, and he pulled her into his chest and placed a kiss to her forehead.

"The girls ok?"  
"Yeah, they're fine Tasha."

Natasha rested her head against Clint's chest, and breathed in his scent. He smelled like the polish he used for his bow and arrows, mixed with something distinctly sweeter.

"I heard you singing."  
"They seem to like it. And it gets Ana back to sleep."  
Natasha chuckled softly, before asking the question that had been burning in her mind for a few months

"Clint?"  
"Hmm?"  
"Are we good parents?"  
"Tasha! Of course we are. We've had them home for nearly 8 months, and we've only had one major incident, and that's just because Ana's earring fell out."  
They had taken their girls to get their ears pierced when they were a few months old, just to make it easier to tell them apart. Each girl had three piercings-the normal two, and an extra one. Ana's extra was on her right ear, and Alekz's was on her left. It wasn't until a few months after the piercings that they realized that Alekz's dominant side was her left, while Ana's was her right.

Natasha nodded, she knew Clint was right but she couldn't help but feel like she was doing something wrong.

"I know Clint. It's just; I don't know what I'm doing. I barely remember my parents. There's only one memory of my mother that I know is real, and that's just because I was too stubborn for the Red Room to take it out. I don't know how to be a good mother. You can at least remember you mom, and all the things she did that were wonderful."  
"Tasha, do you love them?"  
"Of course I do."  
"Then you're doing everything right. As long as you do what you do because you love them, you'll never be a bad parent."

Natasha nodded her head in agreement. She leaned in to press her lips gently to Clint's, but as soon as their lips touched, she threw herself into the kiss. Clint's hands threaded into her hair, before one went to her waist to press her body to his. Her hands cupped his face, before making their way into his hair. She rolled them so that she was straddling her husband, and pressing into all the right places. They continued their make-out session for a while, both too tired to do anything besides kiss. When Natasha couldn't stand to go without breathing any longer, she broke away, before smiling at the slightly shocked look on her husband's face.

Seeing that she made no move to get off of him, Clint dragged his hands down her back, before resting them lightly on her bottom. She gave him a look that clearly said that if he were any other person, she wouldn't hesitate to rip his hands off. Clint chuckled softly, before kissing the tip of Natasha's nose lightly. He nudged her off his body, ignoring the slightly hurt look on her face. She rolled over so that her back was facing him, and tried to go back to sleep.

She smiled when she felt Clint pull her body up against his, so that there was no space between her back and his chest. She got a wicked smile on her face as she rubbed her bottom against his pelvis, causing him to groan slightly.

"Tasha, sleep."  
"But this is much more fun."  
"Таш." Clint warned.

Natasha sighed, but pressed herself more firmly into her Hawk's arms. He kissed the back of her neck softly, and the last thing Natasha remembers before drifting off to sleep is the feeling of Clint curling around her. She smiled at the familiarity of the gesture, and settled into sleep.

At least, she settled into sleep until 8 in the morning, when Ana and Alekz woke her up. She sighed, and contemplated making Clint get them, but he must have read her mind

"No. Remember our deal? They're mine from 8 p.m. to 7:59 a.m., and they're yours from 8 a.m. to 7:59 p.m. And it's currently," Here he paused to check the clock, "8:03 a.m. Which means they're _yours_."  
Natasha sighed, but pulled herself out of bed to go check on her girls. She picked them both up, and carried them to the kitchen, where she set them in their special seats on the counter. They wouldn't be hungry for another 30 minutes or so, which meant that she had time to start breakfast. She decided on eggs and toast, since she wasn't really in the mood for anything fancy, and she knew that Clint would be down soon to eat before heading off to target practice.

True to form, he showed up in the kitchen 25 minutes later, and headed straight to the coffee mug she pointed out to him. Only after he had downed half of it did he make any attempt at conversation.

"Why, hello there lovely. Don't you look absolutely adorable this morning?" A happy squeal was the response he got, before continuing "Oh, and look at you! I bet you thought I'd forgotten you. But don't worry sweetpea, I could never forget you."  
Alekz gurgled at him in response, and Natasha took his being distracted as perfect opportunity to sneak up on him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and set his plate down in front of him. He jumped slightly, which made Natasha giggle.

"You're growing soft Hawkeye. I think you may need to be banned from the babies until you get your senses back in order." Natasha joked.

"Oh, but what would that do to these lovely babies? They would get so lonely without my funny faces to entertain them."

"Дик."*  
"Hey now, there are _children_ present!"  
Natasha joined his laughter while she brought her own plate over to the counter. She jumped up between Ana and Alekz, and twined her legs around Clint's waist, dragging him closer to her body.

Clint shot her a look, which she returned with her best doe-eyed look. He was about to say something, when Alekz decided she was hungry, and started crying. Natasha unwound her legs, and Clint made his way to the fridge to get two bottles. He came back and handed them to Natasha, who had flipped the girls' seats so that they were facing her, without her having to stand up. She stuck a bottle in each girl's mouth and watched as they started eating. Just like everything they did, they kept perfect pace with each other. They were able to hold the bottles by themselves, so Natasha made to grab her food and continue eating. But just as she grabbed for her food, it was whisked out of her reach. She looked up and found Clint holding a piece of her toast in his hands, signaling for her to open his mouth. She sighed, but did so anyways. Clint had a habit of doing weird things like this- but if she were being completely honest with herself, Natasha would have said that she loved every one of his weird habits. As long as he didn't do them in front of anybody else.

The family finished their breakfast at relatively the same time, and after cleaning up a bit, Clint made his way to the gym to work on target practice, while Tasha went to visit Pepper.

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one! :)**

**Russian:  
*Dick**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Sorry this chapter is quite a bit longer than the rest. I knew what I wanted to have happen and I knew where, so i had to get the story to that point. I hope you still like it though! Please review!**

**Also, just so i don't have to type it every time, да is Russian for yes, and Нет means no. Also,** **Мама is mommy, while папа is daddy. **

Natasha spent the day hanging out with her daughters and Pepper, just like she did most days. They put on old episodes of Elmo's World for Ana and Alekz, and talked while the girls watched TV.

"How much longer until you're due?"  
"About 2 weeks. Tony's been really great about it, he usually wakes up before me, and tries his best not to wake me up, but this little bugger wakes me up anyway."  
"Just wait until it's actually born. And be glad that there's only one. I love my girls, I really do, but sometimes I _really_ wish there was just one."  
Pepper chuckled softly at Natasha's tone.

"How are the girls doing?"  
"What do you mean?"

"Just, well, I only see them a few hours a day, and I was just wonder what they were like when it's just the four of you."  
"Oh. Well, really, it's just like this. I think they both inherited Clint's calmness, as well as my own. They don't cry much, unless they get hurt. And they only wake up once or twice during the night. Even when they first started teething, they didn't make much fuss."  
As if she were responding to what her mother said, Ana started babbling from her seat on the floor in front of the couch.

Natasha smiled at her daughter,

"That's really what they do most of the time. They babble."  
"Have they said any real words?"  
"Yeah, but I feel like they prefer to just make noises. Ana can get fairly talkative at night, and Alekz usually says whatever her sister just said."  
"What were their first words?"  
"Well, Ana's was in Russian, she said 'да' when we asked if she was hungry."  
"Oh, that's cute!"  
Natasha laughed at Pepper's reaction,

"I guess. Alekz's was in English, she said 'mine' when Ana tried to take her stuffed pony." Both women chuckled at this, and Natasha looked fondly at her daughters.  
"So who won the bet?" Pepper's question pulled her out of her thoughts.  
"Well, Clint and I decided that we both won, since one's was in Russian and the other's was in English. The sex that night was awesome, by the way." Natasha winked at Pepper, causing her to laugh hysterically.

"Whoa, careful Pep! That's how I went into labor, remember?"

Pepper nodded, and managed to get her breathing under control.

"So when are you guys going back to work?"  
"Well, Clint got time off until they were 2, but after they turn 1 he can go in anytime he gets bored and see if there are any missions he wants to do."  
"What about you?"  
Natasha was silent for a moment, trying to decide if she could trust Pepper with her secret.  
"Nat, what's wrong."  
Natasha's voice was so low, that Pepper could barely hear what she said "I don't know if I want to go back to work, Pepper."  
Pepper just stared at her friend, which prompted Natasha to explain,

"I just don't know if I could leave them. I mean, how could I go halfway around the world, and kill someone, when I know that they have their own kids? The entire time, I'd be thinking that the situation could play out just as easily against _my_ family. And there's also the risk that Clint and I could get killed on a mission, and I don't want to think about leaving our girls without parents. Of course, the simple solution for that would to not have us go on missions together, but Fury knows I don't trust anyone enough _besides_ Clint to be partners with them. But at the same time, I know that one day, I'll get bored and not want to be stuck with them _all_ day, and I don't know how to _do_ anything else, I mean, I've been a killer since I was 14!"  
Pepper just looked at Natasha, her eyes full of sympathy.

"That's a tough decision, Nat. Have you talked to Clint about it?"  
"I know I should, but he's either going to say that I shouldn't go on any more missions, which will make me angry, 'cause I know I'll feel like he doesn't think I can do it. But then I'll also be mad if he tells me to go back to SHIELD, because then I'll think that he doesn't care if our girls are left without parents, and Pepper, I just don't know what to do!"  
Pepper was shocked when Natasha started crying in front of her. She watched as her best friend's body was wracked with sobs. Pepper carefully laid a hand on Natasha's shoulder, and Natasha looked up at her

"Nat, are you ok?"  
"I don't know, Pepper."  
"The last time I saw you cry this easily was-"  
Pepper suddenly cut off her train of thought. She jumped off the couch, barely avoiding jumping on the twins in the process, and ran from the room.

Natasha just looked at where her friend had been moments before. She turned to look at her daughters

"Мама's going crazy, isn't she?"  
"да!" Was Ana's enthusiastic reply.  
"Thanks baby, I love you too." Natasha replied sarcastically.

Pepper came back into the room, and thrust a box into Natasha's hands, with a knowing look in her eyes.

"Pepper! No way!"  
"Nat." Pepper said in the voice she used when she was trying not to yell at Tony.  
"Pep." Nat replied in the same tone.  
"Go pee on the stick."

Natasha just stared at Pepper, clearly believing she could beat the woman in a staring contest. But Pepper held her ground, and dammit, Natasha really did have to pee.

"Ugh. Fine."  
Natasha left the room, doing her best to ignore Pepper's smug expression.

"Your mom's so silly, isn't she?"  
"да!" Ana and Alekz said at the same time. Pepper chuckled at the girls, deciding that she couldn't wait until her baby was born and was talking.

Natasha returned 10 minutes later, and it looked to Pepper as though she had been crying.

"Nat! What's wrong, hun?"  
In response, Natasha held out the stick for Pepper to see. Pepper's eyes got wide, and a huge grin broke out on her face

"Nat! That's wonderful! Isn't it?" Natasha's lack of expression was starting to worry her.  
"I uh… I think so?"  
"What do you mean, 'I think so.'?"  
"Well…"  
"Natasha Romanoff-Barton! Please tell me that it's your husband's baby!"  
"What? Of course it is Pepper!"  
"Than why aren't you sure?"  
"Well, Clint and I never really talked about having any more kids."  
"Well, did you have sex?"  
"Pepper! There are children present!"  
"Really, Natasha? They're 8 months old, they won't remember this conversation. And stop deflecting."

Natasha sighed, "Fine. Yes, we had sex. So what? We're married. And in case you hadn't noticed, my husband is _really_ hot."  
Pepper laughed at Natasha's defense "I never said it wasn't ok for you guys to have sex. I was just going to say, that things like this generally happen when you go at it like bunnies."  
"Pepper! We don't go at it like bunnies!" Natasha was trying really hard to suppress a smile, while still appearing indignant.  
"Sweetie, We live in the same tower, remember? Even before you guys got married people were walking in on you two. I still don't think Steve's fully recovered."

Natasha started blushing, although, it was more from the memories, than it was from embarrassment.

"And after the wedding, well, you two jumped each other when you thought no one was looking."

Natasha was still avoiding looking at Pepper. She now had a full understanding of why Tony seemed afraid of her sometimes.

"Nat." Natasha looked up, and was slightly surprised to see concern in Pepper's eyes.  
"Yeah?"  
"Promise me you won't do anything stupid before you talk to Clint."  
"Pepper, what are you talking about?"

Pepper gave her a look, and this time, Natasha didn't have to try to look appalled.

"Pepper, I would never consider _that_!"  
Pepper sighed, before looking slightly ashamed "I know, but you had me worried."  
"Just because it wasn't planned doesn't mean I don't want it." Natasha smiled at Pepper.

Pepper nodded, before looking around her for a distraction. Her eyes settled on Ana and Alekz playing quietly on their blanket.

"Ana, Alekz." The girls looked over at Pepper and smiled "Do you guys want a little brother or sister?"  
"Нет!" Ana said loudly.

Natasha looked shocked, and quite upset.

"Nat, I'm sure she doesn't mean it."  
"I know. But still. It's a little disconcerting."

Pepper smiled, before deciding that Ana needed a good tickling. She leaned over to where the girls were sitting, and scooped Ana off the blanket. She proceeded to tickle the little girl's belly, delighting in the excited squeals coming from Ana's mouth.

"Мама!" Alekz shouted, while she held her arms out towards her mother.

Natasha smiled, and pulled her youngest daughter off the blanket, and started tickling Alekz as well. They kept up the 'tickle torture' as Tony had dubbed it, until they were interrupted.

"I think that's illegal in 29 countries, and all 50 states."  
Natasha looked up, and saw Clint standing in the doorway with a grin on his face.

"Well, get over here, and we'll see how you fare against tickle torture." Natasha replied, winking at her husband.

Clint made his way over to his family, and began reaching his hands out towards Alekz, who saw him and squealed

"папа!"

Clint grinned at the little girls, before scooping Alekz out of Natasha's arms, and throwing her gently in the air. Delighted squeals filled the room, so Natasha took Ana from Pepper, and proceeded to do the same thing with her. Soon, the room was filled with laughter, and it was in that moment that Natasha decided that any worries she had about having another baby so soon after the twins were completely unfounded.

Clint and Natasha stayed for a late lunch with Pepper, before leaving her to take her nap. She tried to hide it, but they could tell that she was exhausted, and Natasha knew that Pepper would need serious sleep before the baby was born.

They made their way back to their floor, and tucked their sleeping children into their cribs, before making their way to the gym.

It was a routine they had been following ever since Natasha started spending mornings with Pepper while Clint did target practice. They would work out together, occasionally sparring if they so desired.

Natasha could tell that Clint was in a sparring mood, but she knew that if she got thrown around too much, she could lose the baby, which wasn't something she wanted to do.

"What do you want to do today?"  
"I think I'm gonna work the beam."

Clint nodded, and tried to hide his disappointment. Natasha caught it, and was about to change her mind, but decided that when she told him, he wouldn't mind so much.

She changed into workout clothes, and made her way over to the balance beam. When Tony had found put that Natasha's favorite form of exercise was gymnastics, he had gotten gym-quality equipment delivered to the tower for her to be able to use. It was even better than the stuff at SHIELD HQ, and it came with all the supplies she needed. She started off with a few simple stretches- she had only made the mistake of not stretching _once-_ before she jumped onto the beam. She did a few cartwheels up and down the beam, just getting the feel in her body. She slowly worked up to the more difficult things, and managed, on a few occasions, to end with only a few centimeters of the beam left. She landed one particularly difficult pass, and snuck a look at Clint to see how he was doing with the disappointment, and what she saw made her eyes light up.

At some point, he'd gone to get the girls from their nap, and had brought them into the gym. They were sitting not far from where she was working out, and Clint had both girls on his lap. He was clapping their hands together, and bouncing them on his knees slightly. Natasha smiled as she jumped lightly off the beam, and made her way to her personal cheering section. She pressed a kiss to the tops of her daughters' heads, and one to her husband's lips.

"How long was I working?" She asked when she finally pulled away.  
"About 2 hours."

Natasha was fairly shocked that he hadn't gotten her to stop. They usually only worked out for an hour while the girls slept. Any longer, and their kids wouldn't sleep at night.

"Why didn't you stop me?"  
"They wanted to watch their Мама." Clint smiled.  
"Clint."  
"It's ok. I got them up after an hour. But really, they were enjoying it. And so was I." He said the last bit in a suggestive manner, which had Natasha replying in the same manner.  
"Oh, you were, were you?"  
"Oh yeah. Has anyone ever told you that you're _really_ sexy when you're up there?"

Natasha laughed, and swatted gently at his arm. She picked Alekz up off his lap and settled her on her hip. She turned and winked at Clint as she made her way out of the gym. Clint caught up with her in the living room, where Natasha was turning on a TV show. When she saw Clint come in the room, she gave Alekz a kiss on her head, and sat her on the couch. She made her way over to Clint, and plucked Ana out of his arms, before kissing her head and setting her next to her sister.

She walked over to Clint, and gently pressed her lips to his cheek.

"I'm gonna hit the shower." She whispered into his ear.  
"Want some help?"  
"Sorry buddy, but you're on baby duty. And dinner duty." She lightly squeezed his bottom as she made her way to their bathroom, swinging her hips a little more than was strictly necessary.

She turned on the water, and stepped under the hot spray. As she washed her hair and body, she tried to clear her mind.

_Focus, Natasha. It's not going to be that hard. You want to keep the baby, and he's always wanted a large family._

Despite the fact that she knew her little pep talk was true, she couldn't shake all the nerves, she reminded herself that she had been just as nervous when she was telling him about being pregnant the first time around, and told herself that this time around would be easier.

_I'll tell him tonight, after we put the girls to bed._

Natasha stepped out of the shower, feeling much cleaner, and confident in her plans for that night.

She wrapped a towel around herself, and made her way to the closet, where she grabbed a pair of Clint's boxers, and one of his t-shirts. She pulled them on, and made her way out to the living room. She found Clint sitting in between their daughters, and al three of them were staring intently at the TV.

"Did you make dinner?" Natasha whispered in his ear.

Clint jumped about a mile in the air, before turning to face his wife

"You scared the crap out of me!"

Natasha gave him a look that clearly said she wasn't impressed that he hadn't answered her question. But she couldn't help it, she was always hungry after working out, and she was eating for two again.

Clint was about to respond when a timer went off in the kitchen, and Clint jumped up, announcing that dinner was ready. He scooped Alekz up, and made his way over to the table, where he strapped her into her seat. Natasha was close behind with Ana. After the kids were buckled into their high chairs, Clint began dishing up pasta for him and Natasha, while Natasha got their dinner ready. They were still transitioning from baby food to regular food, so the girls had a mixture of cheerios and crackers, as well as baby food vegetables- which was still the easiest way to get either of them to eat vegetables.

Dinner passed without issue, and after the dishes had been cleared and placed in the dishwasher, it was bath time for Alekz and Ana. They had both managed to get food in their hair, so bath time took a little longer than usual. When they were done, Natasha pulled each girl from the tub, and wrapped their towel around them. Ana's towel had a duck on it, while Alekz's towel had a bunny. Natasha gently dried each girl, while showering kisses over their faces, causing delighted squeals to erupt from both, before placing them in their ducky pajamas.

She made her way from the bathroom carrying Ana who had fallen asleep as soon as she gotten the pajamas on, and holding Alekz's hand. Alekz and started walking a month earlier, and was still fairly wobbly, but she preferred walking than being carried, unless she was being ticked while she was being carried.

Clint met them in the Nursery, and Natasha was quickly reminded that the girls would need to move to the other bedroom soon, so they would have time to adjust to a new room before the new baby took theirs.

Actually getting the girls to fall asleep was no problem. They were so tired after their baths that they usually fell asleep right as their head hit the pillow, unless they were already asleep.

Natasha and Clint slipped out of the room 5 minutes later, and moved back to the living room. Clint made his way to the couch, and when Natasha moved to sit next to him, he wrapped his arm around her waist and used his other arm to grab her wrist as he pulled her down on top of him. Natasha burst into a fit of giggles, and Clint had to kiss her to quiet her down.

She eventually stopped giggling, and they selected a program to watch before they went to bed. Natasha rested her head in Clint's lap, and lazily drew circles on his knee caps. Clint's hand found its way into her hair, and began twirling it around his fingers. When they were done watching a re-run of NCIS, Clint shut off the TV, and pulled Natasha to her feet, before the couple made their way to the bedroom. When they entered, Natasha went to the bed, and got under the covers, while Clint took a quick shower. He emerged from the bathroom 10 minutes later wearing just a pair of boxers. He was about to make his way to the closet to get a pair of sweatpants to put on when he heard a wolf-whistle from the bed. When he looked over at Natasha, she crooked her finger in the universal gesture telling him to _come here_. He made his way to the bed, and Natasha felt herself get a little carried away. She shook herself slightly, and watched as her husband made his way up the bed towards her. He finally reached her, and crawled on top of her, before pressing his lips to hers for a passionate kiss. They were both more than a little breathless when they pulled apart, but they kept their faces close, sharing each other's breaths.

"Clint."  
"Mmm?"  
"We need to- oh, that feels _good_."

Clint pulled his face away from her neck, where he had just given her a hickey, and smiled.

"As I was saying, we need to talk."  
Clint's head stopped on its way to the other side of her neck, where he was no doubt going to give her another hickey. It would have made Natasha laugh, if she hadn't been so focused on what she had to tell him.

"Tasha, you're kind of scaring me. Is everything ok?"  
"Well, it depends on your definition of _ok_."  
Clint rolled off of her, and pulled her onto her side, so that they were looking at each other.

"Explain." She cracked a small smile at his response before she continued  
"Well, I uh… I'm…" She paused, and Clint was giving her a confused look. _Focus Natasha. It's three words. Say them._

She took a deep breath, and forced her statement out "I'mpregnantagain."

Clint looked confused, and it was clear that he hadn't been able to understand what she'd just said. It was also entirely possible that she'd said it in Belarusian, which she was fairly positive was one of the _very_ few languages she spoke that he didn't.

"Sorry? I didn't catch that."  
Natasha knew she wouldn't be able to get the words out again, and judging by Clint's expression, they were past the point where 'never mind' was a viable alternative.

So instead, she took his hand that was dangling in the space between their bodies, and placed it against her still-flat stomach. She looked at his face, and could tell that he was still confused, but she kept his hand where it was, waiting for what she was trying to tell him to finally click.

After a moment, it finally did, and Natasha laughed at his expression. He had the dopiest grin on his face, and his eyes were as bright as she'd ever seen them.

He leaned in and kissed her thoroughly, before rolling onto his back, and pulling her on top of him. He looked into her eyes, and decided she'd never looked prettier.

"Really?"  
"Yeah."

Clint smiled as he brought his lips back to hers again, and rolled-this time more gently- so that he was on top of her. They were panting when they broke apart again, but they were both grinning like idiots.

"So, I guess this means you're happy."  
"I'm so far beyond happy, Tash, that I don't even know _what_ I am. "  
Natasha smiled as she kissed him again, and tried to ignore the part of her brain that was making her feel stupid for ever doubting that Clint would be happy.

"Maybe you can show me how happy you are." Natasha whispered in what Clint liked to call her 'sexy voice'. Clint smiled, and conversation ceased while Clint showed her just how happy he really was.

Later, Natasha lay facing her husband's chest, breathing in his scent. Her arms were wound tightly around his waist, and his were around her shoulders. She squeezed him closer to her, burrowing into his shoulder. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

"I love you Clint."  
"I love you too, Tasha."  
She kissed his lips one more time before rolling over so that she could press her back into his chest. He snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her snuggly against his body, and she felt a smile sneak its way across her face.

Clint leaned in and brushed a kiss across the back of her neck, and rubbed small circles on her abdomen.

"Я люблю тебя, Наташа Романова. Спокойной ночи, любовь моя."*

Natasha snuggled closer still to her husband, knowing that she didn't need to respond.

She fell asleep with a smile on her face, and her hawk curled around her body.

**Reviews? Yeah, I like them. So you should leave one. :)**

**Russian:  
*I love you, Natasha Romanoff. Good night, my love**


	9. Chapter 9

Natasha woke up two weeks later to Clint shaking her body.

She peeked an eye open to look at her husband before she mumbled her good morning "I _will_ kill you."  
"I love you too Tash. Pepper's in labor, lets go."  
Natasha sprang out of bed, and hurriedly put on a pair of jeans and a shirt.

"Do you have the girls?"  
"Just about to get them. Get a move on, come on."  
Natasha sighed, and followed her husband to their daughters' room, and getting the girls out of their cribs. Ana and Alekz looked startled, but they didn't cry. Instead, they fell asleep in their parents' arms. Natasha spared a chuckle as she followed Clint to the elevator and down to the garage.

Pepper had decided that Natasha had to be there when her baby was born, since she'd had to be there when Natasha's girls were born. Natasha handed Alekz to a still slightly sleepy Steve, before climbing in the car with Pepper and Tony. As soon as the door was closed, Pepper was yelling at Tony to drive, and Tony peeled out of the garage.

"Nice of you to finally join us this morning, Natasha."  
Natasha winced; she could tell this was going to be an exhausting morning.

"Hi, Pepper. Sorry, Clint tried waking me up."  
Pepper humphed in response. Natasha shot Tony a look, which he returned quickly, before Pepper was screaming at him to keep his eyes on the road.

They made it to the hospital in no time, and Natasha decided to wait for the rest of the team. Pepper gave her a glare, but once she realized that she had done the same thing the day that Alekz and Ana were born, she didn't complain.

Thor, Bruce, Steve, and Clint arrived about 10 minutes later. Steve was still holding Alekz, and Clint was holding on to a very curious Ana. Natasha smiled at her daughters when she saw them, and came over to quickly kiss their noses.

"Clint?"  
"What are the chances that Pepper wouldn't get mad at me for not being there if I asked you to break my wrist?"

"She'd skin you alive."  
"I thought as much."  
Clint chuckled at her face, before kissing her head, and pushing her in the direction of Pepper's room

"Если я умру, вы будете заботиться о наших девочек, не так ли?"*  
"You're not going to _die,_ Nat."  
"You don't know that."  
Clint gave her a look, clearly telling her to go. She sighed, before walking towards Pepper's room.

In all honesty, Natasha knew she deserved it. The whole situation just made her decide that when the new baby was born, Clint was going to be the only other person in the room.

"It's about damn time you showed up!"  
"Sorry, Pepper. Clint told Ana you were sick, and she wanted to come visit you."  
Pepper's face mellowed out slightly. She seriously loved Natasha and Clint's daughters. She just hoped her kid was as cute.

The doctor returned shortly after Natasha entered, and instructed Pepper to push. She did as she was told, and Natasha was surprised at the amount of curses coming out of Pepper's mouth. Some of which were _very_ inventive.

Soon enough, a soft cry filled the room, as Tony and Pepper were introduced to their daughter. Natasha slipped out of the room to alert the boys that there was someone they needed to meet. She took Alekz from Steve, and had the team follow her down the hall to Pepper's room.

When Tony looked at them, his face was a mixture of fear, love, happiness, and sleepiness. It would have been comical if it weren't so sweet.

"Come meet our daughter. Her name is Olivia Sofia Stark."  
Everyone smiled, and when Natasha took Alekz in for a closer look, Alekz let out an excited shriek of "Baby!" which caused everyone to laugh.

After a short visit, they left the new family to themselves, and everyone piled into the car to go back to the tower.

They went their separate ways once they arrived, agreeing to eat dinner together in the main kitchen. Natasha and Clint hung around for the afternoon; they watched TV, they worked out, and Natasha's favorite, Clint gave her archery lessons.

"You're holding the bow wrong, Nat."  
"I am?"  
Clint nodded before going to stand behind his wife, and adjusting her grip on the bow. Just as he leaned in to her slightly- to reach the hand that was farthest away from him- Natasha snuggled herself closer to his chest.

Clint dropped his arms, and turned her around to face him. She had a Cheshire cat grin on her face, which gave Clint all the clues he needed.

"You did that on purpose."  
Natasha nodded, her grin growing even bigger. Clint was about to step away from her, and leave her to her shooting, when her arm snaked around his neck and pulled his head down to hers

"Why do you think I did it?"  
Clint chuckled as he pressed his lips against hers. She responded enthusiastically, and her tongue darted out to lick his lips. He opened his mouth to her, and allowed her to explore his mouth. His hands gripped her hips, and lifted her so that she was sitting on the shelf under their 'Wall-o-Weapons'. She locked her legs behind his hips, and pulled him even closer to her body. His hands were creeping under her shirt and towards her bra when they were interrupted.

"мама!"  
"папа!"

Clint and Natasha pulled apart and looked down. Ana and Alekz had managed to get out of their cribs, and walk down to the shooting range. Clint stepped away from Natasha, who jumped off the shelf, and they both went to their kids.

"Sweetie, aren't you two supposed to be sleeping?"  
Ana shook her head, smiling the whole time. Natasha turned her gaze to Alekz, who was just smiling at her parents.

"How did we knock you up again with these two walking in on us?"  
"We're lucky we have friends we can stick our kids with."  
They shared a look and a smile, and a promise to finish their activities that evening.

Clint grabbed Alekz's hand, while Natasha took Ana's hand, and they made their way slowly to the living room. They put on _Beauty and the Beast_ in the background, and the family settled on the floor. Clint was playing with Alekz, pretending that his hand was a hungry monster, and every time it crawled up her leg, it would jump to her belly and begin tickling her.

Natasha sat with Ana in her lap, and both of them were looking at the TV. Whenever a song began, Natasha would sing it softly into Ana's ear, but she'd sing it in Russian. Clint and Natasha were beginning to see bits of the girls' personalities coming out. While they were still very similar, their own habits were making themselves known.

Ana preferred Russian to English, or so it seemed. She'd only said a handful of words in English, and the majority of what she said was in Russian. Alekz on the other hand, rarely spoke Russian, unless she was calling her mom or dad. Ana was a very neat eater. When she had cheerios, she lined them up in front of her and ate them one by one, while her sister didn't care what formation her food was in, as long as it ended up in her mouth. Alekz woke up more often at night, but all she needed was to be held. Ana rarely woke up at night, but when she did, it took a while to get her back to sleep. Alekz preferred walking, while Ana was content to let the big people move her where they wanted her.

The list was growing everyday, and it please Natasha and Clint to no end. Of course, the most striking thing about the twins wasn't one of their differences. It was their biggest similarity.

They looked the exact same. More so than typical identical twins, where people could learn ways to tell them apart. The only way Clint and Natasha could tell them apart was by their earrings. Before that, Ana always had a blue fingernail, and Alekz always had a purple one.

They both had flame red hair, the exact same shade as their mother's. Their eyes were also the exact same- a clear emerald green. If Clint had known what Natasha looked like as a child, he would have sworn that they looked exactly like her.

After they finished watching _Beauty and the Beast_, Clint put on Aladdin, and he and Natasha switched kids.

Clint began introducing Ana to the tickle monster, while Natasha sang to Alekz in Russian.

By the end of the movie, Ana was in a fit of giggles, and Alekz was actually repeating some of the Russian back to Natasha.

It was 6:00 when they led the kids to the elevator to eat dinner with Steve, Thor and Bruce. When the elevator dinged open, all three men turned to look at it, and they smiled when they saw the family step out. Thor and Steve were sitting on the couch watching a movie, and Bruce was in the armchair doing the crossword puzzle.

As Clint walked behind Thor, he scooped Alekz off the floor, and set her in Thor's lap. The god was a little surprised, but pleased nonetheless. He stood Alekz on his thighs, and allowed the little girl to play with his beard. She let out a string of giggles, which caused Thor to laugh. Natasha made her way over to Bruce, and placed Ana on his lap, before turning and walking away.

"What?"  
"She wants to help Uncle Bruce, don't you, Ana?"  
"да!"

Bruce chuckled, but kissed the little girls head.

Steve tried his best to look hurt at not having a kid to play with,

"Relax Steve. You got to play with Alekz earlier. Besides, soon, you'll each get your own kid to play with."  
Steve smiled at Natasha "Any way you can make that move a little faster?"  
"I really wish I could. But you'll have to be patient."

They continued playing for about half and hour-by which time Bruce had realized that Ana did _not_ want to help, and had closed the paper and moved to the floor, so she could draw with him.

Around 6:45, JARVIS announced that the pizza had arrived; so Clint went down to get it. When he came back up, he found everyone at the table, awaiting the food.

They ate in relative peace, until Alekz decided that she didn't want to eat anymore, and threw a cracker at Bruce, which hit him on the nose. Everyone was quiet, until Bruce started laughing. He picked up the cracker, and threw it back at Alekz. This caused Ana to throw a cracker at Steve, who then threw it at Thor. After 15 minutes of this, everyone had thrown a cracker multiple times, and some had been lost in people's hair. Ana and Alekz had also tried to throw their vegetable, which just resulted in them having food in their hair. Natasha took them back to their floor, and gave them their bath, before bringing them back up to play with the rest of the team.

2 hours later, Ana and Alekz were fast asleep, and Natasha was on her way to conking out. Clint stood up, and helped his wife up. They said goodnight, before taking the girls to bed.

They went into their own room, and got ready for bed. They barely said a word to each other, both too tired to communicate. Natasha kissed Clint on the lips, before rolling over, and snuggling into his chest. She fell asleep instantly, and Clint was soon to follow.

They slept soundly that night. When they woke up in the morning, they realized that it had been the first night that one of the girls didn't wake up crying at least once.

Natasha smiled. Just as her babies were growing up, she was going to have another one.

**A/N: This is kind of just a filler chapter. It didn't feel right to skip to the next section, and completely gloss over Pepper having her baby. Plus it was kind of nice for Pepper to not be as proper as she usually is. Or at least, I think it is.**

**Reviews are nice. You should write one. :)**

**Russian:  
*If I die, you'll take care of our girls, won't you?**


	10. Chapter 10

The next two months flew by. Natasha didn't visit Pepper as often, mostly because Alekz and Ana thought that Olivia- or Livvy, as everyone called her- was a baby doll, and they wanted to play with her.

Natasha didn't mind. Her daughters were turning a year old soon, and she enjoyed spending time with them. They were walking everywhere, and talking in complete sentences, both in English and Russian. Natasha and Clint had started teaching them Spanish as well, which they seemed to be grasping fairly easily.

All their spare time was spent planning Alekz and Ana's birthday party. It wasn't going to be huge (Tony was disappointed) but actually making sure everyone could come was proving difficult. They'd decided to just have it at Stark Tower to make it easier for everyone.

They had decided to invite Agent Hill and director Fury, and had seen their invitation as the perfect opportunity to announce that Natasha was pregnant again, and that they were both off work for the time being, although Clint was still planning to go on a mission every now and then.

They entered the hellicarrier, and made their way to Fury's office. They were each holding one of their daughters' hands, and many agents were looking fondly at the girls.

When they got to Fury's office, Agent Hill was already there. She'd met the girls before, but her eyes lit up nonetheless.

"Well, hello you two! You've gotten even more gorgeous since the last time I saw you."  
Natasha laughed at Hill, and Hill came over to give them each a hug.

"Hug!"

Alekz was holding her arms out to Hill, demanding a hug. Hill complied, before asking Ana if she wanted one too. Ana nodded, and held her arms out. Hill lifted the little girl off the floor, and when she went to put her back, Ana refused to let go. Hill gave Natasha a confused look, but Natasha just laughed. Hill shifted Ana so that she was rested on her hip, and she began playing with Hill's hair. The three adults were laughing when Fury walked into his office.

Once the door opened, Alekz tried to run out, but Fury caught her by her ankle, and pulled her into the air. Alekz looked confused at first, but she started laughing quickly. Fury did his best not to laugh with her, but he couldn't help himself. Alekz made everyone around her laugh.

Fury righted the squirming child, but didn't put her down. He moved behind his desk to look at Natasha and Clint

"So, what can I help you two with today? Bored already?"  
They both shook their heads, causing Fury to scrutinize them

"Well in that case- Can I help you Miss. Alekz?"

The child in question was currently reaching up towards Fury's eye patch, trying to pull it off.

"Alekz, этого достаточно. Извиняюсь директора ярости пожалуйста."*

Alekz looked at her mother, and nodded. She turned back to Fury, who was giving her a quizzical look

"Sowwy."

Clint had to stifle a laugh at his daughter's face. She looked like she was apologizing for killing someone.

"That's alright, Alekz."

He turned back to Natasha and Clint, and continued his question

"Well, if you're not bored, what can I do for you two?"  
"First of all, you're both invited to their birthday party. It'll be at Stark Tower on September 28th."  
Fury and Hill nodded, so Natasha continued

"We also wanted to talk to you about something a bit more important. You see, sir, um…" Natasha looked at her husband, suddenly very worried about what Fury would say. Clint picked up where his wife left off, hoping that Fury wouldn't be too mad

"Well, sir, Natasha's pregnant. Again."  
Fury looked at the couple, and Clint was worried what all the silence meant.

"Agent Hill, would you please escort these lovely ladies on a tour of the facility?"  
Hill nodded, before taking Alekz's hand, and leaving the office.

"I'll bring them back here, ok?"  
Natasha nodded, and Clint thanked her.

Once the door clicked shut, Fury was yelling

"WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH YOU TWO? I WAS THIS CLOSE TO GETTING MY TWO BEST AGENTS BACK, AND NOW YOU TELL ME THAT YOU'RE KNOCKED UP AGAIN?"

Natasha winced, but nodded.

"Yes, sir."  
Fury nodded his head for a while, and Natasha was trying to figure out if he was going to yell at them again. He finally broke the silence

"Don't know why I'm surprised, you were always going at it like bunnies around here."  
"I-I-I'm sorry, sir?"  
"Come on, Barton. The walls aren't that thick."  
Natasha looked at her husband, worried that he was going to pass out or something as drastic.

"Well, I'd be glad to take you back whenever you so choose."  
"Actually director, I'm not going to be coming back. At least not for a while. I want to be there for my kids, and I can't do that if I have to go off and kill people."  
"I expected as much, but if you ever change your mind, let me know."  
Natasha nodded, and was going to say something else when the door opened, and Hill walked back in with Ana and Alekz.

They bid Hill and Fury goodbye, before making their way out of the office

"Hey, I'm happy for you two. Congratulations."  
"Thank you, sir."

They made their way out of HQ, and back to the car they had borrowed from Tony. Once the girls were buckled, Natasha climbed in shotgun, while Clint got behind the wheel.

"Tash, do you want to go home?"  
Natasha's eyes lit up, and she nodded her head.

Home wasn't Stark Tower; home was their safe house. The first one they had ever done together. They didn't get to visit it much, but they weren't needed for the weekend, so they made a trip out of it.

Natasha sent Bruce a text, and asked him to share their plans with everyone else.

The house was a few hours outside the city, but Natasha didn't mind. Ana and Alekz were asleep, so she didn't have to worry about them.

She reached over and grabbed Clint's hand in her own. He looked over at her, and a smile made its way across his face. He lifted her hand to his mouth, where he gently kissed the back of it,

"Does the house have food?"  
"Yeah. We should be good for the weekend, but we can stop somewhere if we want."  
"Maybe."  
They settled into silence, and Natasha soon fell asleep.

"Tasha, wake up. Come on, babe, we're here."  
Natasha opened her eyes, and smiled when she saw the house.

It was in the middle of a forest, with plenty of cover if any airplanes flew over. There was also plenty of space if they wanted to play outside with the girls.

The house itself was quite large. It was three stories tall, with a small room at the very top where someone could sit and have a clear 360-degree view. The outside was painted white, with windows every couple feet. The outside of the house was very simple, which contrasted with the inside.

They pulled Ana and Alekz out of their car seats, and took them into their bedroom, where they placed them in their cribs, before making their back to the entryway, and decided a small tour was needed. They hadn't been home in a while, and wanted to remind themselves of everything that was there.

The entryway was simple enough; it had a vaulted ceiling with a beautiful chandelier. The theme of every room, except for the rooms that were for the kids, was white walls and dark furniture. The entryway led to the grand staircase. The staircase was something that was common in Russian palaces. The ground floor had two sides that met at the top.

"Let's stay down here for a little while, yeah?"  
Natasha nodded in response, and the couple continued exploring.

Turning right out of the entryway, they made their way to the living room. They had a plasma screen TV mounted on the wall. There were brown leather couches in a semi-circle around the TV, with a mahogany and glass coffee table. The walls were white, and the flooring was a plush dark brown carpet.

They made their way through the living room and ended up in the kitchen. It was a spacious kitchen, because both Natasha and Clint liked to cook. The counters were white marble, and the appliances were all black, fitting their theme. There was a nook that had a table for informal dinners. Clint had made the table, as well as the chairs. They went through another door, and found the formal dinning room. They didn't use it ever, but it was still nice to have. The table could easily seat 20 people. It was mahogany as were the chairs and the cabinets that were against the walls.

They made their way back to the entryway, and continued to the left. The room the entered was the training center. It had a sparing ring, as well as workout equipment. It took up the entire left side of the house for one simple reason- Natasha needed a place for her gymnastic equipment. They had a beam, bars, vault, and floor area. The ceiling was two and a half stories high, which meant she had enough room to do all her tricks without worrying.

They went back to the entryway, and towards the right side of the staircase. They didn't go up the stairs, however. They went to the room that was off the staircase. It was the game room. It too had a mounted TV, along with all the video game players, and a wall of video games. There was also a pool table, a foosball table, and an air hockey table. There was plenty of open space too, where they could play board games, or lay around if they wanted. It was a large room, and took up what was left of the right side of the house.

They finally proceeded up the staircase, and turned right.

There were five guest bedrooms, as well as an office space and two extra bathrooms. They made their way down the other hall, where Alekz and Ana had their bedroom. There were four other rooms, including what would be the new baby's room, and Natasha and Clint's bedroom.

Their bedroom was just as simple as the rest of the house. The walls were white, and the furniture was black. The main focal point of the room was the King sized bed in the middle of the wall. The frame was black, and the sheets and canopy were white. There was also a black marble fireplace, with a couch in front of it. The bathroom had two sinks, and two sets of cabinets. There was a large shower, and an even larger Jacuzzi tub. The walls were black marble, while the fixtures were all black marble. Their closet was huge. They each had their own side, with plenty of room for extra clothing.

They made their way back to Alekz and Ana's room, and found that the girls were awake. Their room looked a lot like their parents', except that it was smaller. That's not to say that their room was small, because it wasn't. All the bedrooms on the second floor were large. They had their own bathroom, and they had a walk in closet as well. The walls were white, and all the furniture was black. There was a black marble fireplace on the far wall, which Clint and Natasha decided they weren't going to use until the girls were at least 5. The house had central heating anyways. And the non-carpet floors had small pipes that ran underneath that carried hot water to keep the floors warm.

They lifted the girls out of their cribs, and the family made their way up the staircase to the third floor. The staircase was the same color as the grand staircase, but it was obviously quite a bit smaller. They emerged at the end of the hall on the third floor, and showed the girls their playroom. The next doors they passed were more office space, as well as two more bedrooms. These bedrooms were smaller than the rest, but they were still quite spacious. The hallway for the third floor seemed a lot shorter than it should have been, because once the door at the other end of the hall was opened, they were in the library. When they had been designing the house, Natasha had been adamant about having a library, and Clint had agreed. It took up what was left of the house, and there were stairs that lead to the circular room that could be seen from outside the house.

They walked back down the stairs, all the way to the entryway. They made their way to a door, which revealed a staircase going down. The door was locked, however, and could only be opened with Clint or Natasha's handprints. Once their kids got older, their hands would be able to unlock the door as well.

The stairs led to the shooting range. It spanned the entire floor underneath the house. There were numerous stalls for shooting, and there were realistic targets as well. There was an area where they could practice more than shooting straight on, and there were places where Clint could climb around- although most areas in the main house were connected by a walkway by the ceiling, and most rooms had a nest of some kind. But the best nests were in the training center and the shooting range.

On the wall next to the shooting stalls were the guns and other weapons. They were behind a glass wall, and once again, a handprint was needed to open it. Natasha and Clint were the only ones who were able to open it, and once their children were older, and had learned to shoot, their handprints would be added, but until they were 16, they'd have to use their handprint, and then one of their parents'. And if someone broke the glass to get one or more of the weapons out, an alarm would sound. There was a keypad on the wall, and if the correct code wasn't entered within 10 seconds, a gas would be shot out that would knock anyone unconscious before they could get out of the room.  
There was a door at the far end of the room that led to a passageway that connected the house to the garage, incase they were trapped in the basement and needed to get out. All the rooms, in fact, were connected somehow, so that if someone attacked their house, they'd be able to get to the shooting range quickly, and either arm themselves (There were some _very_ powerful guns) or get out to the garage, and escape. They also had a perimeter set up at a mile radius from the house, and whenever the main alarm was set, cars that crossed the perimeter would be shot. There were keypads hidden on the perimeter, incase they or one of their friends had to come after the alarm was set.  
Overall, the house was very safe, and very secure. It was designed by spies after all, and very paranoid ones too.

The family made its way back to the ground level, and went to hangout in the living room. They put on _Tangled_, and everyone began singing the songs in a different language. Ana sang in Russian, Alekz sang in Spanish, Natasha sang in Italian, Clint sang in Irish, and the movie was in English. Once they finished singing, Natasha smiled at her daughters, who'd be a year old in a couple of days. They were growing up quickly, and Natasha desperately wanted the whole process to slow down.  
They made dinner as a family, and ate at the counter, which was their usual eating-place. They went back to the living room, and Clint put on Cinderella, which they watched until the girls fell asleep.

Once they had settled them in their cribs, they made their way back to their bedroom, where they put on their pajamas, and climbed into bed.  
Clint pulled Natasha against his side as he traced patterns along her back.  
"I don't really thing we needed a bed this big. We always end up sleeping twisted together anyways."  
"That's true. But a big bed gives us lots of room for our _experimentations_." Natasha responded whilst wiggling her eyebrows up and down, causing both her and Clint to burst into laughter. When they finally calmed down, Natasha shared an idea that she'd been thinking about since they'd arrived at the house.  
"Clint?"  
"Yeah, baby?"  
"What do you think about having the girls' birthday party here? There's plenty of room."  
Clint looked at her and considered the offer.  
"We'd have to drive everyone here, and take precautions to make sure we aren't followed."  
"Yeah. But we wanted the team to know where the house is, didn't we?"  
Clint nodded in agreement "Yeah. How about we look at the stuff tomorrow. We can compare here and Stark Tower as party venues. Sound good?"  
"Sounds good, babe."  
"Tasha." Clint warned.  
"If you can call me 'baby', I can call you 'babe'."  
Clint decided that arguing with her would be futile, and he really did like being called babe.

Natasha turned off the lights and rolled over to go to sleep. Clint sighed, and settled into the bed as well. He pulled Natasha into his chest, and pressed a kiss to the back of her neck, before closing his eyes and falling asleep.

**Whew! I didn't mean for it to get that long, but describing that house took ****_forever_****. If you're getting bored, fear not! More exciting episodes are just around the corner. I'll be updating this within the next few days, and we'll have some very exciting things happen. **

**I like reviews. You should write one. :)**

**Russian:  
*that's enough. Apologize to Director Fury please**


	11. Chapter 11

Ana and Alekz's first birthday finally arrived, and to say that Natasha was swamped would be an understatement. She was dealing with morning sickness, headaches, and both her daughters had gotten ear infections. Clint did his best to help with everything, but Natasha could tell he was just as bad at planning things as she was.

They had decided not to have the party at their safe house, the main reason being that they didn't want Director Fury knowing where it was. He had already figured out where most of their other houses were, they only had three he didn't know the location of- Alaska, Ireland, and their home. And they couldn't realistically move to Alaska or Ireland, so _home_ had to stay hidden.

The day of the party was hectic. Livvy was getting over a cold, so Pepper couldn't really help much. Ana and Alekz didn't want to wear what their parents had picked out, so she'd sent Clint off to help them pick new outfits. The entire way to their room, Alekz had been saying, "I wan bwoo!" while Ana was crying in Russian that she would only wear Purple.

It would have been funny, if Natasha's mind weren't on a million other things.

Currently, she was setting up streamers in the living room on the main floor. Tony was going to allow the elevator to only stop on the main level and the ground floor, and all the Avengers knew a code that would allow them to go to their floor if they needed to. She was grateful for this, since she didn't really want to deal with people potentially snooping in their things, even if it was mostly SHIELD agents coming.

She was standing on the coffee table to hang some streamers up, when her foot slipped. She was about to fall, when Steve raced up behind her and caught her arm, preventing her from hurting herself.

"Thanks Steve."  
"No problem, Natasha. Why don't you let me and Bruce take care of that?"  
Natasha turned around, and saw Bruce standing by the couch.

"Thanks, Steve, but I can do it."  
"Let me rephrase that. Give me the streamers, and go play with your daughters. And help Clint put some clothes on them."  
"Steve, I-"  
"Drop the streamers!"  
Bruce's interjection made Natasha and Steve stop and look at him. He had taken some discarded streamers, and shaped them into a gun, which was pointing at Natasha.

"I said drop them!"

With that, Natasha started laughing, along with Steve and Bruce. While she was laughing, Steve reached put and grabbed the streamers from her hands.

"Bruce! Where did that come from?"  
"What? I'm attending the birthday party for two one-year-olds. Can't I act a little weird?"  
"Of course you can, it was just unexpected."  
Bruce chuckled along with Natasha, while Steve came up behind her and started pushing her out of the room.

"Now, go play with your gorgeous little girls, and let Bruce and I take care of this. Don't worry, we wont let Tony up here until you deem it fit."  
Natasha shot them both a look, before finally making her way to the elevator to go back to their floor.

When she left the elevator, she heard her girls yelling about what they wanted to wear, and Clint's voice trying to get them to calm down.

She walked into their room, and saw them jumping up and down in their cribs while Clint was showing them different clothing options.

"Анастасия и Александра Вы находитесь детей, а не обезьяна. Скажи своему отцу, спокойно, что вы хотите носить"*.Both girls looked at their mother at her command, and quieted instantly. They didn't always listen when someone spoke English, but whenever their parents spoke to them in Russian, they always listened.

Natasha made her way into the room, and turned to Ana

"Now, Ana, what color do you want?"  
"Фиолетовый!"**  
"Ok. Do you want to wear a dress?"  
"да!"

Natasha pulled out a purple dress, and held it up for her daughter's inspection

"Do you like this one?"  
Ana looked at it closely, before she nodded. Natasha sighed, before lifting her daughter out of her crib, and slipping the dress on, followed by a pair of purple leggings.

Clint turned to Alekz

"What color do you want, Alekz?"  
"Bwoo!"  
"All right. Do you want to wear a dress?"  
Alekz nodded, and Clint pulled out a dress that looked the exact same as Ana's, and showed it to his daughter

"This one?"  
Alekz nodded, so Clint slipped it over her head and pulled the matching leggings on as well.

When the girls were finally dressed, they made their way over to Clint and Natasha's bedroom, and put on a movie for them to watch.

Natasha leaned over, and whispered into her husband's ear

"You're too soft on them, you know."  
"Tasha, I try. But they know I hate yelling at them!"  
"That's why you use Russian."  
"Yeah, I'll leave that part up to you. Eventually, they'll figure out that most of the time I'm just cussing in Russian."

Natasha laughed at her husband, before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

When the move was over, Natasha went to grab some things from the girls' room, and came back with a brush and some bows.

"Ana, come here please."  
Ana made her way over to her mother, and sat down in front of her. Natasha began to gently pull the brush through Ana's wavy red hair. When she was done, she parted Ana's hair on the right, to match her earring, and pulled a segment from the left, securing it with the purple bow she had brought from the bedroom.

She gave Ana a pat on the back when she was done, and Ana made her way back across the bed to her father.

"Alekz, your turn."  
Alekz made no move to go to her mother, which was just as expected. She liked when her hair was done, she just didn't like _getting_ it done.

Natasha reached across the bed, and grabbed Alekz around the waist, before hoisting her into her lap. Alekz giggled, but remained sitting while her mother brushed her hair. Natasha parted it on the left, and pulled extra hair on the right back, and secured it with the blue bow she had.

Clint and Natasha decided that the girls could go without shoes, since the party was inside. Clint went to the living room to see if everything was set up so the girls could come out.

When he returned, he pulled Ana into his arms, and Natasha grabbed Alekz, and they made their way out to the living room.

"Tash?"  
"Yeah, Clint?"  
"When they party is done, do you want to move back home? Permanently?"  
Natasha gave her husband a thoughtful look, before nodding.  
"What about you, girls? Do you want to go live in the big house?"  
"да!"  
"Yes!"

They both laughed, and continued out to where Tony, Pepper, Livvy, Steve, Thor and Bruce were waiting. Everyone came over to give the birthday girls a hug, and soon, Alekz and Ana were out of Natasha and Clint's hands, being passed around from person to person. Eventually, Thor ended up holding Alekz, while Bruce was holding Ana.

Thor had always had a special bond with Alekz, she loved Mjolnir, and Thor's beard. Alekz basically like to grab things on peoples faces that didn't seem to belong. Her parents didn't have an eye patch, so she was determined to get Fury's off, and her dad didn't have facial hair, so she liked playing with Thor's.

Ana was much calmer than her sister, and being with Bruce soothed her, because he was just as calm. _Most_ of the time. They liked to sit together whenever movie night was, and Ana enjoyed 'helping' Bruce with his crossword puzzles.

Natasha made her way over to Pepper and Livvy.

"Hey Livvy, are you feeling better?"  
Pepper nodded for the four-month-old, and Natasha took her from Pepper, who seemed glad to be able to relax her arms.

Natasha pressed a kiss to Livvy's head, and held her close. She smiled at Pepper, and the two began talking about random things.

Eventually, the rest of the guests arrived.

The elevator opened to reveal Fury, Maria, Jane, and Rhodey.

Tony had introduced the Avengers to Rhodey not long ago, and both Alekz and Ana had decided they liked him, so he was a fairly regular occurrence in the Tower.

Maria made her way over to Steve, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, followed by a hug. It was still strange for Natasha to see Steve with a girlfriend, but she figured he was getting lonely. Jane was playing with Alekz and Thor in what turned into a huge tickle-fest.

Fury made his way over to Natasha and Clint to say hello, before going to see Ana and Alekz.

The party was going smoothly, and Alekz had only tried to take Fury's eye patch off twice, which really was a huge improvement. The first time, Natasha had caught her, and told her to knock it off. The second time, Ana was the one who caught her, and told her to knock it off. The adults all stopped talking when they heard Ana chastising her sister, and they expected Alekz to yell at Ana. Instead, Alekz gave her sister a guilty look and dropped her hand.

"Sowwy Ana. I sowwy."

Alekz squirmed for Fury to put her down as Ana made her way to her sister. When they finally reached each other, Ana patted her sister on the head, and smiled at her.

"It o-tay Alekz."

The two girls hugged, and Clint just couldn't take the cuteness anymore. He ran to his daughters, and scooped them both up in his arms. They let out squeals and giggles, and soon, everyone was laughing.

Later, Natasha announced it was present time, so they all went to sit on the couches or the floor, while the girls opened their presents.

They got 'big-girl beds' form their parents, clothes from Pepper, Tony, and Livvy. _More_ hair accessories from Jane and Thor, Ana got colored pencils from Bruce

"In case you want to help me with the puzzles." Was Bruce's response to Ana.

Bruce gave Alekz a coloring book with characters from _Beauty and the Beast_. Rhodey got them each a new teddy bear. Steve and Maria gave them new blankets, since their old ones weren't soft anymore. Fury had gotten them each their own eye patch.

"Now, Miss. Alekz, if you would like to pull someone's eye patch off, you can pull _yours _off."  
All the adults laughed at that as they moved to the kitchen for cake. It was chocolate cake, with pink icing, and the words

"_С Днем Рождения Анастасия Виктория, и Александра Милена_"*** on it.

Clint helped them blow out the candles, and the cake was served.

Alekz thoroughly enjoyed it, or at least she enjoyed getting frosting everywhere. Ana, on the other hand, wasn't impressed.

"Я не люблю его."**** She announced.

Most of the people around her were surprised, but Natasha had figured that it would be too messy for her to enjoy.

The party was winding down, when JARVIS spoke up

"Sir, there is a man entering the elevator, claiming to be related to Ana and Alekz."  
The adults stopped talking, and Clint shot a look at Natasha that told her all she needed to know.

Clint nodded to Natasha slightly, before responding to JARVIS

"Send him up JARVIS."  
"Certainly, sir."  
"Ana, Alekz, come with me so I can get the food out of your hair."

The girls looked at their mother in confusion, but decided to follow her out of the room. She took them to the bathroom of the main floor, and set them in the bathtub. She had anticipated needing to give them a bath here, so she had brought their shampoo with her.

She began with Alekz, trying her best not to laugh as she kept finding more and more frosting in her daughter's hair. She glanced quickly at Ana, and determined that she didn't need a bath, but figured she'd ask her anyways.

"Do you want to get in too, Ana?"  
Ana considered for a moment, before nodding. Natasha helped her out of her dress, and placed her in the bathtub next to her sister.

_I can't believe he had the nerve to show up!_

Back in the main room, Clint suggested that Pepper take Livvy into the bathroom with Natasha and the twins, and Pepper shrugged and nodded. Tony made to follow, but Clint stopped him.

"They'll be fine with Tasha in there. Besides, I need you out here. You might even get to throw him out."  
Steve had finally had enough with the cryptic messages

"Who the hell is 'he'?"

Clint sighed, and was about to answer, when the elevator doors dinged open, and revealed the man standing in the elevator.

The man that Clint had never wanted to see again

"Barney."

**Dun-dun-dunnn! There's gonna be some drama! Anyways, I'll be updating very soon, so don't fret.**

**Reviews are nice. You should write one. :)**

**Russian:  
*Anastasiya and Alekzandra! You are children, not monkeys. Tell your father, quietly, that you want to wear  
**Purple  
***Happy Birthday Anastasiya Victoria and Alekzandra Milena  
****I do not like it**


	12. Chapter 12

_Last Chapter:_

_Clint sighed, and was about to answer, when the elevator doors dinged open, and revealed the man standing in the elevator. _

_The man that Clint had never wanted to see again_

_"Barney."_

Barney stepped out of the elevator, and made his way onto the living room and looked around.

"Well, Clinty-boy, you seem to have done ok for yourself."

Clint just glared daggers at his brother.

"I haven't seen you in years, and this is the welcome I get? Come on, I haven't seen you since-"  
"Since I caught him embezzling, got beaten to within an inch of my life, left to die on the side of the road, and you went with them when they decided to move to the next city. Can't imagine why that would lead to this kind of a 'welcome'."

For the people in the room that had been confused about what happened, Clint's response had cleared everything up. His brother Barney was in town.

"If you hadn't gone poking your nose in his business, he wouldn't have done it, and you know it."  
"Yeah, maybe. But if you'd been a halfway decent older brother, you would have stayed with me while I was almost dying, instead of ditching me."

Barney laughed "Right. So it's my fault that you couldn't keep your nose to yourself."  
"What the hell do you want?"  
"Can't a guy come see his baby brother?"

Clint walked towards his brother, seething in anger. He had to remind himself that Barney hadn't done anything wrong, so he couldn't punch him. _Yet._  
"What. The. Hell. Do. You. Want?"  
"Well, I heard that my nieces were having a birthday today."  
Clint stopped in his tracks.

"And how did you know you had nieces?"  
"Well, I always thought you died, until I saw the thing about the aliens in Manhattan. I saw you in the paper, and heard the group you were a part of. I figured you guys were in New York, and once I got here, it didn't take long to figure out where you were staying."  
"How did you know you had nieces?"  
"Well, it was kind of a big deal, two of the Avengers having kids. I saw the name, and knew that it was you and that Russian slut you married."

When he heard what Barney called Natasha, Clint snapped. Before Barney could even blink, Clint had him in a headlock, and Fury, Rhodey, Maria, and Steve were pointing guns at his face. Thor looked like he was about to throw his hammer, and Tony's bracelets were blinking. Bruce left the room in an attempt to not let 'the other guy' out, and Jane was hanging back from the rest of the pissed off people with weapons.

"What did you just call my wife?" Clint hissed into Barney's ear. Now that he was this close, he could smell the liquor on his breath, and found that he wasn't all that surprised.  
"She's a slut. That was her job, wasn't it? I did some research on the Black Widow. She was famous for seducing men, then shooting them. I'm willing to bet that those little girls aren't even yours."

Clint's hold on his brother tightened, and his hand came to the side of his head, ready to snap his neck at the next thing the idiot said.  
He tightened his hold a little more, and was one second away from snapping his neck, when he heard a voice at the other end of the room.  
"Клинт, ты не можешь убить его здесь. Там будет слишком много прессы."*  
"I don't really care about the press, Tash. He called you a-"  
"I know, I heard." She made her way over to stand in Barney's face. "So you're the good for nothing scum of a brother that chose a bunch of strangers over his own brother."  
"At least I had a sibling, instead of being trained to be a slut extraordinaire." He punctuated his statement by spitting at Natasha. Clint caught sight of the look in Natasha's eyes, and dropped his hold on Barney.

Barney started chuckling, but a second later, he found himself lying with his face pressed into the floor.

"Yes, because Russia's top spy agency _killing_ my parents in front of me is completely my fault. And being brainwashed, well, come on, I wanted that to happen, didn't I? I wanted to become a killer when I was 14. I wanted them to take away everything I ever had; I wanted them to make up new memories to replace the ones they decided they didn't like. And most of all, I wanted them to bring me to the room where the 8 year old boys were being trained, and I wanted them to make me kiss my little brother, the only person I had left in the world, and I wanted them to shoot him in the head, right in front of me, because _I_ had failed on a mission." Natasha's voice was icy, a clear threat in her words. But Clint knew her well, and could hear the pain that seeped in at the memories she had been allowed to keep. She jerked Barney's arm behind his back, and pushed her knee into his back. "There's a reason they call me the Black Widow." Natasha hissed in his ear. "I can kill you 100 different ways, all with you in this position. Shall we name a few? Lets see, well, there's the obvious shot to the head, I wouldn't mind that so much, but that's too quick. I could shoot you in the gut, make you bleed out, but that would leave a nasty bloodstain. I could snap your neck, but that's too quick also. Oh, I know" She paused her story time to pull something out of her belt, which Clint hadn't even noticed she'd put on. She held the syringe up so Barney could see it, and uncapped it, before holding it an inch from his throat.

"Do you know what this is? It's what I'm known for. I would only need to use the tiniest amount, and there would be little chance you'd survive. But it wouldn't be quick, no, there's a reason the black widow is one of the most feared spiders in the world. It'll take a while to die, but once the symptoms start, there's no chance of recovery. Do we want to test it out?" She moved the syringe closer to his throat, and Barney let out a strangled cry.  
"Didn't think so."  
She stood up, and Clint grabbed him, and pulled him roughly to his feet. Barney tried to leave, but Natasha wasn't done with him

"Just remember, this is what's waiting for you if you _ever_ come near my family again. If you ever come near me, my children, my husband, or any of the people in this building again, I will hunt you down, and I will make sure you die a slow, painful death. Do you understand me?"

Barney nodded, too scared to reply.

"Good."

With that, she turned, and walked away. Clint nodded to Thor and Steve, and the two men grabbed Barney roughly by the arms and yanked him towards the elevator. Tony had snapped a picture of Barney, and was instructing JARVIS to alert authorities if he was ever near the tower again.

Clint followed Natasha out of the room. He found her standing outside the bathroom, and he pulled her into a tight hug, and kissed the top of her head.

"I'm so sorry, Tash. I don't have any idea how he found us."  
"I know Clint. I'm just glad the girls weren't out there."  
Clint nodded, before opening the bathroom door. He laughed at the sight that awaited him: Bruce, Jane, Pepper, Alekz and Ana were covered in bubbles. Livvy was in her seat on the counter, laughing at the sight in front of her.

"What the…?" Natasha looked around and found bubbles on nearly every surface.

When Ana and Alekz saw their parents, they both let out excited squeals

"Bubbow fight!" Alekz shrieked.

Natasha looked at Pepper, and Pepper explained.

"There was a stray bubble. When Ana went to get it, she flung bubbles at Bruce. Bruce blew bubbles at Alekz, who threw them at me. Eventually, we all go in a bubble fight."  
Natasha and Clint started laughing when Pepper finished explaining. They made their way into the room and over to their girls. They rinsed the bubbles off, before declaring bath time over. Bruce and Jane left to go find out exactly what happened in their absence, while Pepper handed Natasha and Clint towels for their daughters.

"Did you take care of it?" Pepper whispered to Natasha

Natasha nodded, not wanting to say more in front of Alekz and Ana.

They got the girls back in their outfits, and wandered back to the rest of the group. Everyone seemed to have relaxed, but Natasha could see Fury's hand twitch towards his gun every so often.

Thor and Steve had waited until the police arrived to pick up Barney, and Clint had decided to go to the police station to file a restraining order the next day.

Around 5:00, people started to wander off. Fury and Maria had to be back on the Hellicarrier in the morning, and had to go to HQ for the night. She kissed Steve goodbye, and the two of them left. Jane and Thor decided to go for a walk, and Rhodey had to be at work early.

Everyone else stayed and watched _Beauty and the Beast_ and _Aladdin_, while eating pizza. The movies were done at 9:30, and Clint took the twins back to their room for bedtime. Bruce and Steve went to their floors, and Pepper took Livvy to bed.

Natasha started to clean up, and Tony came over to her

"You can leave it, I can get Dummy to do it."  
Natasha looked at Tony, and nodded. She made her way back to the elevator to go back to her floor. She turned back to Tony

"I know you were going to anyway, but uh- you can tell Pepper about what happened. I know she wants to know."  
Tony smiled and nodded, before telling JARVIS to get Dummy up to clean.

"When are you guys moving out?"  
Natasha turned back around to face Tony.

"Soon, I think. Maybe next week."  
Tony nodded "I can get JARVIS set up in your new house, if you'd like. It'll be my birthday present to the girls. I didn't really like any of the clothes Pepper picked out."  
Natasha smiled "Thanks, Tony. That would be great. Alekz and Ana love JARVIS."  
Tony nodded, and turned to pick up something from the floor, and threw it at Natasha. She looked down when she caught it, and saw the teddy bears Rhodey had given the girls.

She turned and walked in to the elevator, and pushed the button for her floor. She found Clint in Ana and Alekz's room, looking around desperately.

"Looking for these?" She held up the bears, and Clint smiled and nodded. They each took a bear to one of their daughters, and the girls snuggled under their new blankets with them.

Clint and Natasha were just leaving the room, when Ana spoke up

"Мама, папа, when do we get big-girl beds?"  
Natasha went over to her daughter, and looked at her  
"We're moving to the big house next week, sweetie. When we get there, папа will set up your beds, ok? You can even have your own room, if you'd like."

Ana nodded, before snuggling with her teddy bear under the banket.

They left the room, and went to their own. Natasha could tell that Clint was worried about why Barney had shown up, but she wasn't interested in anything he had to say.

"Clint, don't worry about it. You said it yourself, he's hot your family anymore."  
Clint smiled at Natasha, and pulled her body closer to his own.

"I know Tash. I just wish everything hadn't gone to hell like it did."  
"I know, but it's not your fault. You did the right thing, and he turned his back on you."  
Clint smiled, and kissed her lips softly  
"You're right, Tash."  
"I know, I usually am."

She kissed him again, before rolling over, and falling asleep. Clint held her tightly, and drew patterns on her tiny bump. He kissed her neck softly, and fell asleep.

**Oh, the drama! I hope you liked it! The next chapter will mostly be them getting situated in their new house.**

**Reviews are nice. You should write one. :)**

**Russian:  
*Clint, you can not kill him here. There will be too much press.**


	13. Chapter 13

2 months later, Natasha, Clint, Alekz, and Ana were finally moving into their house. They had waited more time than they truly wanted, but the restraining order against Barney had had some issues getting through, and they didn't feel very safe taking the girls, or anyone really, to the safe house if there was a chance he was nearby. Eventually, they decided they needed to move, since they wanted to be settled into the house at least a month before Natasha was due.

They all piled into cars, and Clint led the way to the house. When they arrived, everybody grabbed a box-except for Clint, Natasha, and Pepper, who were each carrying a child. To make up for it, Steve and Thor made an extra trip. The family didn't really have much stuff to move, so it wasn't going to take long. After they finished putting boxes where they needed to go, and setting up the twins' beds, everyone was planning to stay for dinner, and they were all going to relax. There would be movies and games. And, of course, there were children, which meant that entertainment was guaranteed.

"Ok. Steve, you can put that box down right by your feet, and- wait, everybody just put the boxes on the ground, and we'll do the tour now."

Everybody dropped the boxes they were carrying, and Natasha began the tour. She shifted Ana-who was asleep again- into a more comfortable position, and made her way down the left side of the house. When the team saw the gym they had, she could tell they were a little jealous. She also noticed that Tony seemed to be taking notes, no doubt he was going to go back to the tower and revamp the gym there. The next stop was the living room, and both Steve and Tony were suitably impressed by the size of the TV.

Pepper loved the kitchen, and hardly anybody spent time in the dining room. Before she led them upstairs, Natasha showed the boys the game room, and the only way Tony and Steve would leave was if she promised to let them play later. When they got upstairs, Natasha and Clint put Ana and Alekz down in one of the cribs, allowing Pepper to put Livvy in the other.

They continued on a tour of the house, before making their way back to the entryway. From there, Natasha directed everyone to the rooms their boxes belonged to. They decided that once the girls were awake, she and Pepper would entertain them, so their beds could be set up. The girls had said they wanted their own rooms, and while Natasha and Clint were skeptical as to whether or not they'd actually enjoy it, they were willing to give it a try.

An hour later, the boxes had been dispersed to the proper locations, and Natasha grabbed her girls, before sending the boys up to do the beds. She and Clint had decided they'd use their current room as the new nursery, since the girls hadn't really had a chance to get too attached to it.

She was singing softly to Ana in Russian, while Alekz watched a movie in Spanish, when Thor came in. he looked rather upset, and made his way over to Alekz, who smiled at him, before crawling into his lap. Natasha shot Pepper a quizzical look, before turning her attention to the demi-god.

"Thor?"  
"Yes, Lady Natasha?"  
"Why aren't you helping the guys?"  
"They requested my removal from the room." His tone was petulant, and Natasha was just about to scream for her husband, when a voice spoke from the doorway.

"It's not like that Thor, there were just too many people in the room at one time. Bruce left as well."  
Natasha looked up at Clint during his explanation, able to tell that her wasn't being completely truthful, but he shot her a look that clearly said he'd talk to her about it later.

Thor made a noise somewhere between a humph and a laugh, as Alekz was once again tugging on his beard. Natasha was about to say something, but Thor seemed happier playing with Alekz anyways.

Not too much later, Clint came back downstairs to announce that the beds were put together, and the girls could come pick the room they wanted. The rooms were identical, so the only considerations they had to make were which side of the hall they wanted to be on. They weren't going to do any major decorating in the rooms, since they'd be the girls' rooms until they moved out, and there was a chance that after the new baby was born, and if there were any more kids later on, that rooms would shift around.

They brought Alekz and Ana upstairs, and told them to walk to whichever room they wanted. The rooms were right across from each other, so they put them down in the space between the closed doors.

Ana and Alekz looked at each other for about 2 minutes, not saying a word. Everyone, except for their parents, were confused as to what was going on, until they saw their eyebrows move slightly.

It seemed that the twins had inherited their parents' penchant for silent conversations.

Finally, the two little girls looked at each other and nodded, before each picking a door, and opening it. Natasha and Clint were each about to enter one of the rooms, when at the same time, both girls said "Нет!" Causing their parents to stop in their tracks. Natasha peeked into the room Ana had wandered into, and saw her little daughter looking around. She walked around the bed, and looked under it. She went to the dresser, and just looked at it. She reentered the hallway at exactly the same time Alekz did, they girls continued their conversation, before switching rooms. Natasha looked in on Alekz, and saw her doing the same thing Ana had done.

Once they had both looked in both bedrooms, they came back into the hall for a final time.

"No monstos, Ana."  
"No scawies, Alekz."

All the adults started laughing at this, but the girls ignored them, continuing to look at each other. They nodded, before turning around and entering the bedrooms they had just left, and looked at their parents.

Natasha looked at Alekz in the doorway, and the little girl looked back at her mom.

At the same time, Clint and Ana were having the same exchange.

"мой" Ana announced, while Alekz said "Mine."

Clint and Natasha looked at each other, shrugged, and followed their daughters into their new rooms. Natasha helped Alekz put all her clothes away, while Clint helped Ana organize her stuffed animals and toys. When they were done, Natasha and Clint switched rooms, and Natasha helped Ana put her clothes away, while Alekz and Clint organized the toys.

When they were done, they made their way back downstairs, and found everyone in the game room. Tony and Steve were playing Air Hockey, while Thor looked on with curiosity.

Ana walked into the room, and made her way over to Bruce, who was sitting in a chair doing the crossword puzzle.

"I help."  
Bruce looked over the top of his paper, and saw Ana looking at him. She held her arms out for him to pick her up and set her in his lap so she could help him. When he continued to stare at her, she sighed

"No color. Pwomise. I help."  
Bruce smiled at her, before deciding that even if she did try to color, he would mind. He settled her on his lap, before continuing to work on the puzzle. He looked down to check on her a few moments later, and found her staring intently at the puzzle.

"What are you looking at, Ana?"  
Ana looked up at him, and smiled "Not looking. Helping. Shhh. Need to think."  
Bruce chuckled at her response, but stopped when he saw the look she was giving him.

Clint and Natasha were watching the exchange from the couch, and chuckled softly to themselves. Natasha looked over to where Thor was seated on the floor, while Alekz climbed on him. She nudged Clint in the stomach, and pointed at the two of them. Clint looked, and laughed.

Alekz had been sitting on Thor's shoulders, and had been trying to transition to her feet, while still on his shoulders. She'd wobbled, and slipped off. Without even looking, Thor reached out a hand and caught her by her ankle. He righted her, before placing her back on his shoulders. The entire time this was happening, he was staring intently at Tony and Steve's foosball game. Tony had beaten Steve at air hockey, and the pair had moved to the foosball table.

It was a very homey environment, and Natasha smiled as she watched her friends and her kids. She rubbed her expanding bulge lightly, before suggesting that Clint go get dinner. He nodded, and grabbed the keys. He kissed the top of her head, before leaving to go get the pizza. Delivery was definitely not an option.

Clint returned 30 minutes later, along with 9 pizzas. They all sat down at the table, and began to eat. Thor and Steve each had 3 pizzas to themselves, while Natasha and Clint shared one, Pepper and Tony shared one, and Bruce had his own. Even if Bruce wasn't a physically large guy, the 'Other Guy' made him hungry, but not to the extent of the demi-god and super soldier.

Natasha looked over at Clint, who caught her eye, and nodded. She sighed lightly, preparing herself for the announcement. She and Clint stood up together, and faced their friends.

"Uh, guys, we have an announcement to make."  
"Or two."  
Everyone stopped talking at that point, and looked at the two master assassins.

"Well, you all know that I'm pregnant again."  
"I actually didn't. How rude of you to keep it from me."  
Everyone ignored the comment from Tony, except Pepper, who slapped him on the back of the head.

"Anyways, we went to the doctor today, and we have some very exciting news."  
Natasha spared a glance at her husband, before turning back to the group.

"We're having twins."  
"Again? Is that even possible?"  
Steve's question seemed to make everyone think for a moment. Bruce eventually got tired of the stupidity around him

"Of course it's possible. It's clearly happened."  
"It could have been mistake or something."  
Natasha cut in "I saw four arms and legs. If it was a mistake, then the baby will have issues."  
Everyone seemed to agree that indeed it was possible, which allowed Natasha to continue with the news.

"We know some things about them, too. They're not identical, which honestly, is fine by me."  
"Is that it? Cause it's exciting and all, but not really worth forcing me to stop eating."  
Pepper slammed her elbow into Tony's ribs, causing him to wince in pain, but other than that, he was ignored again.

"Do you know the gender?"  
Natasha nodded, and her eyes lit up.

"Well, don't keep us waiting." Pepper laughed.

Steve nodded, "Don't keep us waiting!"  
Natasha took a deep breath

"We're having a boy and a girl!" Her voice contained so much excitement, that Clint couldn't help leaning over and kissing her.  
"мама?"

Natasha turned to Ana, who had a confused look on her face,

"Yes, ребенок?"*  
"What that mean?"

Natasha lifted her daughter out of her seat, and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"It means, ребенок, that you girls are getting a little sister _and_ a little brother."  
Ana nodded "That's ok."  
Natasha laughed, "I'm glad I have your permission. Is it ok with you too, Alekz?"  
Alekz nodded her head, not looking up from the food in front of her. Ana started squirming, so Natasha set her down, and the little girl made her way over to Bruce, who pulled her up to sit on his lap.

"Do you guys have ideas for names?"  
"Well, when we found out, we decided that I'd pick the boy's name, and Clint would pick the girl's name."  
"Did you pick one then?"  
They looked at each other, and nodded.

"Our son will be Andrei Luka Barton-Romanoff."  
"That's a lovely name."  
"Thank you. Andrei was my little brother. He died because of my mistake, and I know this would have made him happy." Natasha's voice was soft and full of pain. Clint gently pulled her into his side, and kissed the top of her head.  
"What about sister?" Alekz asked her parents.

They both chuckled, and Clint answered her question

"Your sister's name will be Alianovna Zaria Barton-Romanoff."

Natasha turned to look at her husband, and found that his eyes were staring straight into his. She smiled softly at him, and kissed his cheek, before whispering "Thank you" into his ear.  
"Oh, that's pretty." Pepper whispered. She turned to her husband then. "The next kid we have is going to have a Russian name, they're much prettier."  
Everyone laughed, but Tony looked pale "You're not…"  
"No. Relax. It's just for future warning."

Steve interrupted Pepper and Tony's conversation, looking back at Clint and Natasha

"Does that name have a meaning?"  
"Kind of."  
"What do you mean by kind of?" Bruce interjected.  
"Well, it doesn't have a clear meaning, like the rest of them. Well, Zaria means sunrise. But Alianovna doesn't really have a meaning."  
"I sense it had a special meaning to the two of you." Thor added his input, for good measure.  
"Yes, it does."  
"What is it?" Pepper was practically bouncing out of her seat.

Natasha looked at Clint, who nodded at her. She turned back to the group and whispering her response

"It's my middle name. But it's so much more than that."  
"How so?"

By this point, everyone was confused, and Ana and Alekz had lost interest in the conversation, and were playing on the floor.

Natasha decided to explain the extent of it, so that she could phrase things the way they were in her head

"It's the one thing I walked into the Red Room with that I was able to walk out with as well. They took my little brother, they took my childhood, and they took my innocence. When I left and came to SHIELD, I had to get rid of Natalia Romanova, but I was fine with that. Coulson tried to get me to change my middle name, or drop it all together, but I refused. I've never known an exact meaning for it, but to me, it means hope. It means you'll always have a part of you that will never leave you. It means that your life can be complete shit- Ana, Alekz, you didn't hear that word- and you can come out the other side battered, bruised, and barely human, but you'll have something that reminds you who you once were."  
Everyone was quiet for a moment, before Bruce asked his question

"Is that why you didn't give it up?"  
"Kind of. By holding on to that one thing from my past, I was able to remind myself of everyone who's deaths I'd been responsible for, whether directly or indirectly. My little brother never liked the name Natalia. He always called me Ali. He once told me he said it sounded more like me. His last words to me, when I was instructed to hug and kiss him before they killed him, were 'Don't let them take you, Ali. Fight for who you were. And when you're done, come find me and мама and папа, and we'll all take care of each other.'"

Natasha wiped a stray tear from her cheek, and upon seeing their mom cry, Ana and Alekz came over to her and patted her legs, while looking at her in concern. She smiled at them, before tapping both their noses, like she did every night when they went to bed.

"Your brother seemed to be very wise."  
Natasha smiled at Thor "He was. He was smart, and kind, and he knew what was going to happen as soon as our parents died, and we were taken to the Red Room. I was 8 and he had just turned 5, and he tried to tell me, but I didn't want to believe him. Siblings were allowed to see each other for one hour every Saturday. The first Saturday after we got there, I ran to him and hugged him, and told him he was right. He smiled sadly and we spent the rest of the time looking at the other kids."

The mood in the room was melancholy, and Alekz decided she didn't like it. She left the room, and when Clint wen to get her, Ana put her hand on his leg and when he looked down at her, she shook her head.

Alekz came back into the kitchen a few minutes later, and as she walked in she lifted her head- which had previously been pointed to the floor- and looked up. Instantly, everyone started laughing.

Alekz had gone to her room, and taken the eye patch Fury had given her off the bear from Rhodey. She placed it carefully over her left eye, and walked back into the kitchen.

She had on her best imitation of his face, and judging by the laughter, it was a very good impression. Natasha came over to her, and bent down to lift her into her arms.

"Thank you, ребенок." Natasha kissed her daughter's cheek, before setting her back on the ground.

The group made their way back to the living room after dinner. They put on _Pirates of the Caribbean,_ a personal favorite of Thor, Steve, and Clint, and everybody settled in to watch. About 30 minutes into the movie, Ana and Alekz had fallen asleep, and Livvy was dosing on Tony's chest. Natasha and Clint made their way upstairs to their daughters' rooms, with Clint quoting movie lines the whole way. Natasha walked into Ana's room while Clint entered Alekz's.

Natasha pulled back the covers, and set her daughter gently on the new bed. She pulled the covers back up, and tucked them around the snoozing girl. Natasha pressed a kiss to Ana's head as she leaned down to whisper goodnight

"Спокойной ночи, мои дорогие девочки. Я люблю тебя больше, чем могу выразить словами."**  
She walked into the hall, and into Alekz's room, just as Clint was leaving. They switched kids, just like every other night. Clint said goodnight in English, while Natasha said it in Russian. When they were done saying goodnight, they made their way back downstairs, and continued watching the movie.

When the movie was done, they said their goodbyes, and everyone made plans to get together after they'd settled in.

Just as Tony was leaving, he turned back to the couple

"I uh- I set up a JARVIS for you guys. I thought you'd like it. It's in all the rooms, but you can easily remove it from a room if you'd like. Try it out for a bit, and if you don't like it, let me know, and I can uninstall it, no hard feelings."  
Natasha smiled at the billionaire "Thanks, Tony. We'll give him a try."  
Tony smiled, before following his wife and daughter, and the rest of the Avengers out the door. They watched as the cars disappeared into the surrounding trees.

Pepper texted them as soon as the last car had cleared the perimeter, and told them that everyone was out, and there hadn't been any incoming cars.  
Natasha made her way to the keypad by the door, and set the alarm, arming the perimeter. She texted Pepper back, letting her know to tell the rest of the team not to come back to the house that night.

Together, she and Clint made their way up the stairs to their room. When they got to the second floor landing, they noticed Alekz's door open a crack, and when Natasha went to look in, she saw her daughter's bed empty. She was about to tell Clint, when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around to see her husband's smiling face, as he directed her to Ana's room. She looked in, and saw both their girls peacefully sleeping in Ana's bed, their arms wrapped tightly around each other.

They'd learned fairly early on that on the nights that both girls couldn't sleep, if Clint and Natasha placed them in the same crib, they would fall asleep almost instantly. When they mentioned it to the group, just in passing, Bruce had told them about a story he read where infant twins would sometimes cry if they couldn't see the other one, and he speculated that that was what had happened. After that, they faced the girls' cribs towards each other, so they could see each other as they fell asleep.

Natasha smiled at her little girls, and bent to pick up the teddy bear that had fallen to the floor. She fixed the covers over them, before she and Clint stepped out and headed to their own bedroom.

As she lay with her head on his chest, she remembered everything he'd done for her when he'd picked their new daughter's name

"Thank you, Clint."  
"For what, Tash?"  
"For Ali's name."  
"Is that what we're going to call her?"  
"Well, we don't call our girls Anastasiya or Alekzandra, do we?"  
"Touché. Are we going to shorten Andrei?"  
"I don't know. I wanted to name him Luka, and have his middle name be Andrei, but I wanted his name to start with an A, so he wouldn't feel left out."

Clint chuckled at his wife, before kissing her goodnight, and allowing her to curl herself into him. He slipped into peaceful dreams about his family's wonderful future.

**What do you think? I'm pretty sure that the stuff I said about Natasha's past isn't entirely true, but who said it had to be? **

**I might be slow updating, I was on break from school this week, and start again tomorrow, but I'll try to do at least one chapter from at least one of my stories a day.**

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**

**Russian:  
*Baby  
**Good night, my dear girl. I love you more than words can say**


	14. Chapter 14

The next few months passed quickly.

It didn't take long for Clint, Natasha, Alekz and Ana to get settled in the house. They spent their days watching movies and playing games. Natasha started taking the twins to the training center with her, and was teaching them how to do summersaults and other basic gymnastic steps, along with stretches. She wasn't able to do everything, but she showed them the proper way to stretch, and Clint showed them how to do summersaults. Both the girls seemed to enjoy themselves, and it made Natasha hopeful that they'd be able to continue with gymnastics as they got older.

Their sleeping arrangements seemed to stay the same. Neither girl was entirely comfortable sleeping in separate rooms, but every time Clint and Natasha asked if they wanted to share a room, they said no, so their parents were letting them continue with the strange sleeping arrangements. If they tried to separate them before bed, they'd wake up in the morning to find that one of the girls had switched rooms.

Pepper and Livvy started coming over most days, and they worked their way through more movies. Pepper was astounded to learn that Natasha had never seen most of the Disney movies, so she had all the girls sit in the living room and they did Disney movie marathons while Clint went to the tower to hang out with the guys. They made their way through Disney and Pixar classics, like A Bugs Life, Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmatians, and Thumbelina.

Natasha admitted that she found the movies quite enjoyable, and wanted to watch another one. Pepper nodded, and made her way through the list. She stopped at one movie, and a look of confusion crossed her face. Natasha was playing with her daughters, and looked up at Pepper asked her a question, and saw the other red head staring at her.

"What, Pepper?"  
"Do you want to watch this one?"

Natasha looked at the screen, and saw the movie that was highlighted. It was a movie called Anastasia.

Natasha looked at Pepper, a look of wonder in her eyes.

"They made a Russian movie?"  
"Well, it's in English, but it's about a girl in Russia."  
Natasha pondered it, "Is it accurate?"  
"That's what you'll have to tell me." Pepper laughed.

Natasha nodded, and Pepper put the movie on.

Natasha watched the first bit with no issue, but when the 'sorcerer' appeared on screen, she decided she had to speak.

"That's ridiculous! Rasputin wasn't a sorcerer!"  
"Tasha, it's a movie."  
Natasha sighed, but continued to watch. When the party was disrupted, she was talking again

"That's too soon for the family to be killed! Many years too early!"

Pepper sighed, but made no comment.

Natasha continued to watch the movie, but once Anastasia lost her memory, Natasha stood up, and left the room. Pepper was surprised, and left the girls to go talk to Natasha.

She searched the house for her friend, but she couldn't find her. She went back to the living room and decided to ask her daughters

"Ana, Alekz, do you know where your mother might have gone?"  
"Gun woom or libwawy."  
"Where's the gun room, Ana?"  
"Downstairs. Only Мама and папа go in."  
Pepper sighed, and decided to try the library. She walked up to the third floor, but she couldn't find her friend anywhere. She was just about to leave, when she saw a door slightly ajar.

She pushed it open, and found another staircase. She started up, and knew she'd found Natasha. When she reached the top of the stairs, Pepper found herself in a medium sized room, surrounded on all sides by glass, offering a nice view of their property. She spotted the redhead sitting on the window seat, and made her way over.

"Tasha?"  
Natasha looked up, and Pepper was shocked to see tear tracks on her face, with more tears pooled in her bright green eyes.

"Tasha, what's wrong?"  
"I'm sorry. I don't know what's gotten into me."  
"That's bullshit, Tash. And you know it."

Natasha laughed slightly, but it sounded more like a choking sound.

"Tasha, please. Did I do something?"  
"No! Of course you didn't, Pepper. It's nothing that's your fault."  
"Then whose fault is it?"  
"Mine, I suppose."  
"Tash, you're not making sense."

Natasha sighed, and tried to gather her thoughts. She wanted to tell Pepper, she really did, she just didn't know how. So she figured she'd start talking, and hope that what she wanted to say came out.

"I miss it so much sometimes. I mean, sure, it was hell before Clint found me, but before that, god, it was wonderful."  
"Are you talking about the Red Room? Because everything else you've said about it doesn't add up with this."  
Natasha gave a wry laugh "No. The Red Room was truly horrible. But I mean Russia."  
"I don't understand, Tash."  
Natasha nodded, but continued her story anyways

"As horrible as the Red Room was, I was able to spend some time in Russia. The real Russia, not the glorified one they promoted. There were major downfalls, as with all great countries, but there were so many more beautiful things. Everyone talks about the cities, Moscow mostly, and St. Basil's Cathedral. They're gorgeous, don't get me wrong, but that's not all that Russia is. There's so much more, there's the mountains that are horrendous in the winter, but absolutely gorgeous in the summer. There's the snow that makes it almost too cold to bear, but makes everything around you turn into magic. There's the furs you get to bundle up in, and the tricks for keeping your bed warm during the winter. There's the animals that make you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere, but you could be 5 minutes from the city. There's the food, the caviar, and there's the vodka. Good lord, there's the vodka. It's the good stuff too, the kind that burns your throat on the way down, but makes it the most pleasant feeling in the world. Real Russian vodka can work miracles. You could be halfway around the world, but if you've got your vodka with you, you might as well be in your own living room. Yes, there's the scary side, the side I had to live with, where you lose everything and do what the government wants, but even when that's your life, you get to see the wonderful side of Russia."  
Natasha finished her rant, and Pepper just looked at her, knowing that Natasha hadn't said what was really bugging her.

"But that's not the worst part. Do you know what the worst part is, Pepper?"  
"What is it, Tash?"  
"When the movie started, Ana whispered in my ear. She said, 'Мама, can we go there? It's so pretty, can we go?'" Natasha had fresh tears pouring down her face at this point but she forced herself to continue. "And I looked at her, and Alekz, and saw how entranced they were by the beauties of Russia, and I know the feeling, because that's exactly how I feel. But I had to tell her no. And when she asked why, I lied to her and told her it was too far. The worst part, Pep, is that my babies, my beautiful, sweet, adorable, _Russian_ babies, can never see the country I grew up in. The country Clint and I talk endlessly about when it snows. They can never go, because they look too much like me, and I can never go back, not unless I'm surrounded by SHIELD agents. And I know that if I still had my family, my real family, my parents and my baby brother, and I brought my little girls home, and soon my new little girl and boy, they'd be thrilled. My family would absolutely adore my children, they'd love them, and they'd do whatever the kids asked, because that's the kind of family I had. And it sucks, because the closest my children can get to Russia, is Alaska. And Alaska is wonderful, and it feels like Russia sometimes, but it's _not._ It's not Russia. I was fine with them never being allowed to go to Russia, because I never thought they'd want to go. But then Ana asked, and everything went to hell."  
Pepper nodded, and squeezed Natasha's hand gently. She was about to stand up and lead Natasha downstairs, when Natasha whispered one sentence. And that sentence told Pepper just how difficult being in America was for Natasha

"Pepper, I just want to go _home._"  
Pepper nearly started crying. After all this time, everything the Red Room had done to her, and taken from her, after all the missions she'd been on for SHIELD, all the time spent with Clint, Natasha would always think of Russia as her home. And, Pepper supposed, she was right. Natasha may have defected, but she was still a Russian at heart, and Pepper had seen her drink enough vodka to prove it.

Pepper pulled her to her feet, and led her out of the library, back to Natasha and Clint's bedroom.

"You. Sleep."  
Natasha nodded, and went into her room, while Pepper made her way back down to the children.

"Where Мама?"  
"She was tired, so I told her to take a nap, and I'd watch you guys. Is that ok?"

The girls nodded, and went back to playing with the dolls they were holding. Pepper noticed that the movie had ended, so she stuck _Beauty and the Beast _on, since it was her favorite. She started singing softly to Livvy, and looked over in surprise when she heard Ana singing in Russian.

"Ana, what are you doing?"  
"Singing."  
"What are you singing?"  
"Booty and the Beats."  
Pepper laughed at the girl's renaming of the movie, but was amazed that she was singing it in Russian. She knew they were both practically fluent, as fluent as they were in English anyways, but she'd never thought they were able to translate from one to another at such a young age._ But they _are_ Clint and Natasha's children._

"Мама teach us. She sing Russian lots."  
_That makes much more sense._

Pepper turned back to her daughter and the movie, until she felt someone tugging at her shirt. When she looked down she saw Alekz looking back at her, her large green eyes full of questions

"Aunt Pepper?"  
"Yeah, Alekz?"  
"Where Russia?"  
"It's very far away sweetie. It's on the other side of the world."  
"Too far to go?"  
Pepper was reminded of her conversation with Natasha. She knew what her friend had told her daughters, and she knew that it made Natasha feel horrible. But she didn't want to tell Alekz that it was still possible to go to, because Natasha had told her that it wasn't possible for them. So she did the next best thing

"I don't know, sweetie. You can ask your mommy or daddy though, they'll know."  
Alekz nodded, and kissed Livvy's cheek before going back over to her sister.

They were sitting in front of the coffee table, playing some kind of game. Pepper didn't know exactly what they were playing, because their conversation was taking place in Russian, with a few English words mixed in. But whenever a song started during the movie, they'd stop their game, and sing along in Russian.

Pepper smiled at the girls, before turning back to her own daughter, and starting up a game of Act Like an Idiot and Make the Baby Smile.

Natasha woke up to somebody poking her face. She opened her eyes, and found her daughters staring at her, Ana's hand reaching out to poke her again. She grabbed the hand quickly, before pulling the little girl closer to her and tickling her. Delighted squeals filled her bedroom, and when she stopped, Ana looked sad.  
"папа home. Pepper go bye-bye." Alekz informed her.

Natasha nodded, before trying to get out of bed. And failing. She was getting annoyed with the whole fat stomach thing of being pregnant. Just once, she wanted to be able to wake up and get out of bed without feeling like a walrus.

"Ana, can you get папа for me please?"  
Ana nodded, and made her way off the bed and out of the room. Natasha used the opportunity to tickle Alekz. Both her daughters had infectious laughs, and Natasha did her best to make them laugh whenever she could, which meant frequent tickle fights.

She was distracted when she heard running on the stairs, and moments later Clint was running into their room, a look of fear on his face. When he caught sight of his wife and youngest daughter, his expression changed and he began chuckling.

"Alekz, can you go downstairs and say bye to Pepper and Livvy please?"  
Alekz nodded, before Clint pulled her off the bed and set her on the floor. She ran out of the room, and Clint made his way over to his wife.

"Is somebody stuck?"  
"Yes. And if somebody laughs at that somebody, the stuck somebody is going to make sure that the evil laughing somebody sleeps on the couch for a month."  
Clint laughed, before holding out his hand. Natasha took it, and he moved his other hand behind her back, pushing her into a sitting position. From there she was able to stand up easily enough. When she was fully upright, she wrapped her arms around her husband, and kissed him firmly on the mouth. When they broke apart, Clint tugged her down to the entryway, where Pepper was waiting to say goodbye. She hugged Natasha, before leaving with her daughter. Natasha got a text a few moments later that they'd left the perimeter, and were on their way home.

The family made their way into the kitchen, where Clint had made macaroni and cheese with bacon. They sat the girls on the counter, and Clint dished food up for everyone. They ate around the kitchen counter, as usual, laughing and speaking in Russian. They'd both found that speaking Russian around each other and their kids was more natural that speaking English.

When they were finished eating, Clint took the girls for their bath, while Natasha got ready for bed. When bath time was done, Natasha asked which room the girls wanted to sleep in, and as usual, both girls wanted to sleep in their own rooms. Their parents tucked them in, before closing their doors and heading back downstairs.

"So, Pepper mentioned that you two had a talk today?"  
Natasha sighed "Yeah."  
"It's ok to miss it, Tash. It's your home."  
"I know, Clint. The thing that really bugs me is that I wish more than anything that I could take them home. Or even to still have my home in Russia to take them to. But even though we destroyed the Red Room, it's not safe for me or them to go there."  
"I know, Tasha." Clint whispered in her ear.

They sat in silence, before Clint sat upright again, clearly having had an idea.

"You ok, hotshot?"  
"I have a brilliant idea!"  
"Which is…?"  
"We'll take them to Alaska. They won't be able to see Moscow, but if we take them to the safe house, they'll be able to see Russia, as long as it's clear. Once the new twins are born, and a few months old, we can take them all to Alaska. And we can make a habit of it. We could go every summer or something like that."  
Natasha smiled at her husband, and found that she quite liked the idea of taking their kids to Alaska, since it was the closest to Russia they were likely to ever get.

She nodded her agreement, and Clint leaned in to kiss her soundly. When they pulled apart, they were breathing heavily. They decided to head up to their bedroom for the night, and instructed JARVIS to turn off the lights. Natasha had found that she quite liked having the AI in her house. It allowed her to know exactly what was going on in any given room at any given time, and she appreciated that she was able to have some quiet time while her daughters played.

Once they reached the second floor, they were surprised to see both doors firmly closed. When they peeked into each room, they found each of their daughters soundly asleep in her own bed. Natasha walked into Ana's room, and put her teddy bear back on the bed, while Clint pulled Alekz's covers back up to her shoulders. They closed the doors quietly, before heading to their own room, and crawling into bed, and each other's arms for the night.

**A/N: I figured that Natasha had to have missed Russia, even if horrible things happened to her there. Also, I know that ****_Anastasia_**** isn't a Disney or Pixar movie, but it can be considered a classic '90's movie, and that's what I was going for with their movie marathon. It just so happens that most iconic movies for children in the '90s (because Pepper was trying to give Natasha a little bit of a childhood since hers was taken) are Disney or Pixar. And I figured that Natasha would have a lot to say about a movie that takes place in Russia. **

**Also, I only speak one language, and can fumble my way through Spanish, so I don't know what it's like to speak two languages when you're a little over a year old, so this is my take on it. **

**Enough with the long-winded note, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'll try to update it, and my other ones, tomorrow or sometime soon.**

**Reviews are wonderful, you should write one. :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**I edited this quite a bit, and cut out a few things that didn't feel right. I'm still not completely sure how I feel about it, so let me know what you think.**

Natasha's eyes flew open. She stared at the ceiling, trying to remember what woke her up. It hadn't been a nightmare; she hadn't had one since the girls were a few months old. Then she remembered, she'd been dreaming about the island she and Clint had been sent to on a mission. When the mission was over, they'd pretended that their comms were broken, and spent a day by themselves. They'd gone to a beautiful waterfall and swam around in their underwear.

She was trying to figure out why she'd dreamed about the waterfall, when she felt it. There was something wet on her legs. Natasha barely had time to process that information when the first contraction hit.

She hissed in pain, and the noise startled Clint awake

"Tasha? Sweetie, are you ok?"  
"Babies. Go get Pepper."  
Clint nodded and jumped out of the bed, and made his way to the room Pepper was sleeping in, while Natasha changed clothes and grabbed her bag, before exiting and heading to the living room.

Tony, and the rest of the Avengers really, had decided that since Natasha's due date was approaching, one of them needed to spend the night at their house, since they refused to move back into the tower. That way, if she went into labor in the middle of the night, like she was now, they wouldn't be forced to wait for one of the teammates to drive to their house to watch Ana and Alekz, and they wouldn't have to leave two 1-year-olds alone at the house, despite the precautions they'd taken to ensure that the house was secure.

Natasha was pacing in the living room when Clint and Pepper entered. Pepper gave her a hug before the couple made it out the door

"I already texted Tony. The guys are going to come by and pick me and the girls up, and we'll be at the hospital after that."  
Natasha nodded, and allowed Clint to lead her to the car.

As they were driving, she noticed idly that this time wasn't as painful as when Ana and Alekz were born, she was mostly just uncomfortable. When they finally made it to the hospital, many of the nurses paled, clearly remembering the crazy Russian lady.

Their doctor approached them, and lead them to a private room, something that Tony had requested, and the doctor was happy to oblige, since he didn't want to risk Natasha scaring the other patients.

Natasha liked the doctor, simply because he was smart enough to keep the nurses away, unless he knew they were competent enough for Natasha to deal with.

After she got settled, the door opened and Pepper and the twins walked into the room. Clint helped the girls climb onto the bed, and Natasha wrapped an arm around each of her daughters

"привет ребенка"*  
"привет мама"**  
"Мама хорошо? Перец сказать мама в больницу."***  
"I'm fine, baby. We're just getting your new brother and sister."

The little girls nodded, before Pepper told them it was time to leave. They kissed both of their parents, and went to sit with the rest of the team in the waiting room. The Avengers were sitting in the waiting room, looking very strange. Steve was slouched, trying not to fall asleep; Tony was lying on the floor with Livvy sleeping on his chest. Pepper walked in and lay down next to her husband, while Ana and Alekz decided who they wanted to sit with. Ana already knew whom she would sit with; whenever she had a choice, she preferred to be with Bruce when she couldn't be with her parents. Alekz was having a more difficult time. Normally, she would have gone to play with Thor, but Thor wasn't here.

Alekz walked over to Pepper, and lightly tapped her nose. Pepper opened her eyes, and smiled at the little girl

"Where Thor?"  
"Thor's in New Mexico, Sweetie. But we let him know what was happening, and he's on his way here."  
Alekz nodded, and turned back to her sister

"I have no one."  
"That not true!"  
Alekz nodded her head quickly "Yes! You have Bwuce, but Thor not here!"  
Ana reached out and hugged her sister

"It ok, Alekz. We find you someone else."

Ana grabbed her sister's hand, and pulled her over to Steve. When she reached him, she began poking his knee, and when that didn't work, she started tugging on his pants. Finally he opened his eyes, and looked down at the girls

"Can I help you lovely ladies?"  
"Alekz not have person to play with! You play with her?"  
Steve chuckled softly. "Why don't you play with her, Ana-bug?"  
Ana shook her head, "I play with Bwuce. You play with Alekz."  
Steve sighed, he was very tired, and he didn't need the curious girl poking at him. He loved both of his nieces, but they were difficult to keep up with sometimes. But when his eyes flickered to her face, he saw her looking at him, a very hurt look on her face, and it melted his heart. He held his arms out to her, and her face lit up suddenly. He pulled her onto his lap, and started talking to her.

Satisfied, Ana made her way over to where Bruce was sitting with a crossword puzzle.

"Bwuce!"

He looked over the edge of his paper, and grinned at her

"Hello, Ana."  
"I help!"  
"Are you really going to help? Or are you going to color on it?"  
Ana looked shocked at the statement, "Never color on puzzle! I help!"  
Bruce chuckled, but lifted the girl onto his lap anyways.

The group stayed that way until noon, when Pepper and Bruce took Ana, Alekz, and Livvy to the cafeteria, so that they could eat. When the girls all finished eating, they made their way back to the waiting room, carrying food for the rest of the team as well. When they walked into the room, they found that another person had joined their party

"Thor!" Alekz squealed, and ran at her favorite uncle.

Thor turned at the sound of his name, and smiled when he saw Alekz running towards him. He scooped her up off the floor, and gave her a hug, careful not to hurt her. He pulled something out of his travel bag, and handed it to the small child

"It for me?"  
Thor nodded, and watched as Alekz flipped through the princess coloring book. He walked over to where Bruce and Ana were, and handed her a similar book, this one with zoo animals.

"Thank you."

Thor smiled, and made his way back to where he'd been. He set Alekz on the floor, and watched as Pepper pulled a box of crayons out of her purse, and handed them to Thor, who helped Alekz color a page for her parents.

On the other side of the room, Ana was leaning against Bruce's chest, staring intently at the puzzle

"What are you doing, Ana?"  
"I'm learning."  
Bruce smiled and kissed her head

"Do you want to learn about zoo animals?"  
Ana looked at him while she thought. After a moment, she shrugged her shoulders and nodded. Bruce set his newspaper aside, and moved to the floor with his niece. They flipped through the book together, while Bruce told her what each animal was. When he got to the page with the tiger, she stopped him.

"I want to color please."  
Bruce nodded and grabbed the colored pencils he'd given her for her birthday out of his bag. He sat behind her as she requested colors and he handed them to her.

They were still busy coloring when Clint entered the room. At first no one noticed him, so he watched as his little girls colored with their uncles. Finally, Ana looked up

"папа!" She squealed.

Alekz looked up at her exclamation, and the two girls ran to their father.

"Hi girls. Do you want to meet your little brother and sister?"  
They both nodded, so he took their hands, and led them to Natasha's room.

When they entered, he set them on the bed, before taking the pink bundle from his wife's arms, allowing her to hold the blue bundle in both arms. She shifted the baby so that his sisters could see his face

"This is your little brother. His name is Andrei, can you say hi?"  
Both girls waved and stared at him.

"I love him, мама."

Natasha smiled at Alekz

"I'm glad you do, Alekz. What about you, Ana?"  
Ana just nodded, continuing to stare at him.

Clint shifted so that he was sitting on the bed next to Natasha

"And this is your new sister, Aliya."  
"Hi Ali." Ana whispered.

The family sat together, getting used to the new members of the family. Eventually, the door opened, and Tony appeared in the doorway.

"Let's see the new babies!"  
Pepper gave Natasha an apologetic look, while at the same time giving her a look asking permission to set Livvy on the bed.

Natasha nodded, and turned to her niece

"Livvy, would you like to meet your cousins?"  
The seven month old crawled over to her aunt, which Natasha took to mean yes.

"Well, this is Andrei, he's the older one. And this is Aliya."  
Livvy smiled and kept staring at the babies.

"You changed her name?" Bruce asked quietly.  
The question brought her out of her thoughts, and she looked at Bruce.

"Yes. I decided that while I loved the name, I didn't want to force any of my past onto her, or any of them. I want them to be able to decide if they want to go into our line of work. They'll have the option of course, but I want it to be their decision."  
The group just nodded, clearly wanting to hold the new babies. Natasha handed Andrei to Tony, while Clint passed Ali to Pepper.

Before long, the kids had made the trip to each aunt or uncle, and now the adults were arguing about whose turn it was to hold the babies. She rolled her eyes, and spotted Bruce standing away from the group.

"Bruce, do you want to hold them?"  
Bruce shook his head and smiled at Natasha

"But Bwuce, you hold me all the time!"  
"I know, Ana. But you're bigger than they are."  
"Bwuce, up!" Ana held her arms out, and Bruce chuckled as he picked her up and rested her on his hip.

Natasha smiled as his eyes lit up while he held Ana. She knew that he loved her girls; that they all did. She also knew that he didn't trust himself to hold something so small and fragile.

She heard a gasp from Pepper- who was currently holding Andrei- and thinking that something terrible had happened, she ripped her gaze from her oldest daughter.

"He has your eyes, Natasha."  
Natasha sighed in relief

"He does?"  
Pepper nodded, and was about to speak, when Steve interrupted her

"Well, his twin has her mother's hair, and her father's eyes."  
Clint and Natasha looked at each other and smiled.

Alekz was having a hard time seeing, so Thor picked her up, and held her so she could see her siblings better.

They stayed in the hospital room for the rest of the day. Finally, around 7:30, Alekz, Ana, and Livvy were falling asleep. Pepper picked her daughter up and looked at Natasha

"Do you want us to take Ana and Alekz to the tower? We have an extra room they can share."  
Natasha nodded. She wouldn't be released until the next day, and she didn't really like the idea of them sleeping at the hospital, and she knew there was no way Clint would leave her alone.

Tony handed a sleeping Ali to Natasha, while Steve handed Andrei to Clint. Bruce picked Ana up off the bed, and Thor shifted Alekz into a more comfortable position. They bid the assassins goodbye, and left the room.

Clint placed both of the sleeping babies into their cots, so that the nurse could take them to the nursery. Steve had mentioned that he'd stay outside the nursery to keep watch until the morning, so that Natasha and Clint could sleep soundly.

Clint climbed into the bed next to his wife, and wrapped her in his arms.

Natasha snuggled herself into his chest, exhausted, but not wanting to sleep.

"Two sets of twins. It's a little odd, isn't it?"  
"Not really. Quite a few people have multiple sets of twins."  
Clint chuckled, loving the way Natasha's voice sounded when she was trying to fight sleep.

The nurse came in and moved the kids to the nursery, smiling at the couple as she did so.

They were quite for a moment, and Clint thought that she'd finally lost the fight and had fallen asleep.

"Clint?"  
"Yeah, sweetie?"  
"Let's not have anymore, at least for a few years, ok?"  
Clint chuckled before kissing his wife's head, "Ok, Tasha."  
She smiled and fell asleep, with Clint following soon after.

**Kind of a weird ending, I know. But hopefully, you liked it anyways! **

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**

**Russian:  
*Hi baby  
**Hi Mommy  
***Mama okay? Pepper said mama in hospital**


	16. Chapter 16

**So this begins a few years after the last chapter. It's kind of a filler chapter, setting up stuff for later chapters.**

**Also, I'm nearing the end of this story, but I'll write another one along the same lines. So when you're done reading it, let me know which of the options (listed after the story) you like.**

**Enjoy!**

The next few years passed quickly. Alekz and Ana were about to turn 5, and Andrei and Ali were 3. Natasha and Clint had gone back to work as consultants for SHIELD, neither wanting to risk leaving their kids without a parent.

Andrei and Ali were just as close as their sisters, frequently having unspoken conversations. But there was another aspect to their relationship. Andrei took his role as big brother- even though it was just by a few minutes- very seriously. He thought it was his job to protect Ali, and although she was feisty, Ali allowed it, although their parents speculated that she only tolerated it because he was her twin.

The younger twins were just as advanced as their sisters, learning to talk and walk at very young ages. All four children were fluent in Russian, English, and Spanish, and Andrei and Ali were learning French, while Ana and Alekz were fluent in French, and were learning Irish- a language selected because Clint said it was pretty.

They were also progressing rapidly at gymnastics and shooting, although they only used bows and arrows with suction cups. They weren't allowed to use a gun until they were 7, at least.

The rest of the Avengers came over nearly every day. Livvy, along with her younger sister Abbie-and eventually the youngest Stark, Clara- were best friends with Alekz, Ana, Andrei, Ali, Mja- Thor and Jane's oldest daughter, a three year old, and Jessica, their youngest who was 2, the same age as Abbie.

Natasha had taught Livvy and Mja Russian as well, and would teach the rest of the children when they were older. Part of the reason she did it was because she wanted them to be able to communicate to their friends, and Ana and Alekz had a habit of speaking mostly in Russian. The other main motivator for Natasha to teach Livvy Russian, was that it annoyed Tony (Jane and Thor didn't mind that their daughter spoke Russian, they found it adorable.)

Natasha and Clint were happy. They had a wonderful life, and four wonderfully gorgeous children. They found that their kids had been able to wipe most, if not all, the red out of their ledgers, which was part of the reason they decided to consult instead of going on actual missions. They had no more red to even out, so why risk dying or adding more red?

Clint and Natasha had decided that they weren't going to try to have any more kids, at least not for a while. But they also weren't going to take drastic measures to avoid it. Their sex life continued; they loved each other, and were both extremely physical people, something that led to a lot of fun in their bed.

So it wasn't really much of a shock when she found out that she was pregnant again. What was shocking, however, was that according to one of her ultrasounds, she was pregnant with twins. Again. And identical ones at that.

When they told that bit of information to the rest of the team, Tony's reaction wasn't the least bit surprising.

"Legolas, what did you do to her?"  
"What are you talking about Tony?"  
"Every time you knock her up, she pops out two munchkins instead of one!"  
Before Clint and Natasha had been able to respond to his question, Ana, Alekz, and Livvy had tackled Tony to the ground.

"What did you say about my mom?" Ana hissed from her position on his back, her knee digging into his side. Tony looked at her with confusion and fear in his eyes. Alekz noted with glee that it was mostly fear.

Before Tony could respond, Natasha had pulled Ana off Tony's back, unable to keep Alekz from jumping on to take her place.  
Natasha held Ana close to her body, trying to calm her daughter down. For as calm as Ana could be, she had her mother's temper, and Natasha didn't want to risk Tony's limbs being ripped off. So she handed Ana to Bruce, and went over to get Alekz off Tony.

It had been a shock to everyone when they discovered that the easiest and quickest way to prevent the other guy crashing a party was to give Ana to Bruce to hold when his heart monitor bracelet started beeping.

They had discovered this about a year after Andrei and Ali were born:

_ The newest twins, along with 2-month-old Abbie and one year old Mja, were napping, and the rest of the Avengers were hanging out in the living room._  
_Tony was telling Bruce that it was his turn to be set up with a significant other, because now that Steve and Maria were now dating, leaving Bruce the only one with no significant other._

_Bruce was ignoring Tony for the most part, until Tony muttered something about being incompetent in bed._

_Pepper smacked her husband, but Bruce's pulse rate was skyrocketing, an annoying beeping filling the room. Before Natasha could suggest for Bruce to leave and calm down, Ana had stood up and made her way over to her favorite uncle. She ignored her family telling her not to get too close, finally stopping in front of the chair he was occupying._

_Bruce gave her a look, wanting her to not be so close. He knew that if he hulked out, she wouldn't be physically hurt, but he didn't want to scare her. Ana continued to stare at Bruce before speaking._

_"Bwuce, no. I will be sad. Don't do it."_  
_Bruce wanted to listen to her, but he could still hear Tony's words in his mind, and it wasn't helping his heart rate._

_"Bwuce." She sounded scarily like her mother. "No."_  
_He closed his eyes, desperately trying to control his anger, and not having much success._

_He felt something touch his knee, and when he opened his eyes, Ana held her arms out for him to pull her into his lap. Bruce shook his head, but Ana's glare intensified, until he finally relented and pulled the little girl into his lap, noticing the looks Natasha, Clint, and Alekz were shooting at him._

_But Ana continued to ignore her family, keeping her eyes on Bruce instead._

_She picked a pen up from the table next to the chair, and shifting herself so that her back was to his chest. She flipped the newspaper he had been holding to the crossword page, and placed the pen in his hand._

_He shook his head, signaling for her to keep the pen._

_"I help, Bwuce."_  
_He smiled and nodded. They looked at the puzzle together, Bruce's hand gently stroking her hair while he helped her figure out some of the answers. He kissed the top of her head as she wrote in the letters he told her, and everyone finally noticed that the beeping had disappeared, and Bruce was calm again._

Natasha was pulled from the memory as Alekz struggled to get out of her mother's grasp. Natasha set her daughter down, and as the girl ran at Tony again, Thor lifted her up, so that she was looking into his eyes. Thor shook his head, and Alekz sighed and nodded.

Tony was still lying down, with Livvy perched on top of him.

"Pepper! Aren't you going to do anything?"  
"Hmm?"  
"Our daughter is attacking me! Aren't you going to tell her to stop?"  
"Nope."  
Tony shot her a look as she made her way out of the room to check on the sleeping children, reemerging moments later with Andrei, Ali, and Mja, allowing Abbie and Jessica to sleep for a little while longer. Mja made her way over to Livvy, and sat next to her cousin on top of Tony.

Natasha kissed Ali's cheek, and placed the girl on the couch next to her brother.

Pepper instructed JARVIS to play _Lion King_, and everyone found somewhere to sit and began watching the movie.

During the scene where Scar tells Simba to leave and never return, Clint hears a muffled whimper, and when he looks over at Ali, he sees her face turned into Andrei's side, too scared to watch. Andrei was stroking her hair in a way that conveyed he was protecting her, despite the fact that he looked like a three year old as he did it. It was one of the cutest things Clint had seen his youngest kids do.

When the movie finished, they ate pizza together in the living room while watching _Beauty and the Beast_.

They were eating in relative silence, when the first song started. Without warning, six voices joined the singing. The team was confused, until they realized what was happening.

Ana was singing in Russian  
Alekz was singing in French  
Andrei was singing in Spanish  
Ali was singing in English  
Clint was singing in German  
Natasha was singing in Italian

The team watched in amusement as the family began singing.  
They'd done this enough times, always having the kids switch languages, that their children knew the songs by heart in 4 languages. It would have been more languages, but Clint and Natasha always changed what language they were singing in.

When the movie and dinner were done, everyone left to go home. The family hugged everyone goodbye, before the kids made their way upstairs.

Natasha and Clint were cleaning up when they got Pepper's text, so Clint went to set the alarm.

When they were done, they made their way up to check on the kids. Ana and Alekz had moved to the other end of the hallway when they turned 4, which was good, considering that there were now two open bedrooms on the side of the hall where Natasha and Clint's room was, which would make it easier when the new babies arrived.

Their oldest children had stopped sharing a bed at night, unless they were truly scared. They peeked at both Ana and Alekz, and found them sleeping peacefully.

They made their way to Andrei's room, having learned to check on him first. Occasionally Ali would come sleep with him, and although Clint and Natasha had told their children that girls and boys couldn't share beds until they were 21, they weren't worried about Ali's habit of sleeping next to her brother. It wasn't a secret that Ali felt safer with her twin, each of their kids felt better knowing that their twin was nearby.

When they opened Andrei's door, they found him sleeping, his arms wrapped tightly around Ali's small waist. Natasha had been expecting it; as much as Ali loved _Beauty and the Beast_, she still was worried that the Beast lived under her bed and would eat her.

They kissed their youngest children, and made their way to their bedroom. They changed into pajamas, and Natasha crawled into bed, pressing a kiss to Clint's lips before turning around and snuggling into his chest. He pulled her close, pressing a kiss to the back of her neck, while rubbing small circles on her slight bump.

They drifted to sleep, breathing in sync.

**All right, that ends this chapter. Sorry of it seems weird, I can't decide if I like it or not, but like I said, I needed a chapter to bridge the time gap.**

**Now, the options for my next story, which will be a continuation of this one when the children are older, are as follows:  
1) All funny, family loving moments**

**2) All dramatic moments- which would most likely be in the form of multiple one shots**

**or**

**3) A mixture of both.**

**So, leave a review and let me know what you'd like.**

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	17. Chapter 17

The first months of Natasha's pregnancy were much easier than her previous ones. She supposed it was because she knew what to do to minimize her morning sickness.

Ana and Alekz were excited to have more siblings, and they both wanted a girl. Andrei wanted brothers, but said he would be happy with sisters, provided that they weren't annoying.

Ali didn't care one way or another. When Natasha asked if she thought it was a boy or girl, Ali shrugged and mumbled her response.

"What was that, Ali?"  
"Don't care."  
Her tone told Natasha and Clint that her indifference wasn't because she'd be happy with either, but because she didn't _want_ either. The fact that she didn't seem to want new siblings didn't surprise Natasha that much; she'd expected at least one of her kids to have reservations about the upcoming arrival.

Natasha finally managed to get her youngest daughter alone, sending the other kids off with Clint for target practice.

"Ali, baby, can we talk?"  
Ali nodded, and Natasha picked her up off the floor and carried her to the kitchen, where she set the little girl on the counter.

"What do you want talk about, мама?"  
"I want to talk to you about the new babies."  
Ali's face fell. She lowered her head to look at the counter, her bright red hair falling in front of her face.

Natasha walked over to her daughter, and brushed her hair behind her ear, tilting her head up so Natasha could look at her face. She noticed that her gray-blue eyes were dimmer than usual, their typical light nowhere to be seen.

"Ali, hunny, what's wrong?"  
"Nothing." She mumbled.  
"Ali." Her mother's voice was firm, and Ali knew better than to argue.  
"I don't want more babies."  
"I figured that much out myself. What I want to know is _why_ you don't want anymore."

Her response was mumbled again, Ali's habit when she didn't want someone to be upset with her.

"Ali, I can't help you if you won't speak up."  
"I don't want to share."  
"Share what? Sweetie, you share with your brother and sisters, why is this different?"  
"I don't care about toys."  
"Then what don't you want to share?"  
"Andrei."  
Natasha was somewhat surprised by her daughters response, but she supposed that it made a lot of sense. They were very close, so it made sense that Ali would be worried that Andrei would spend less time with her.

"Ali, I promise it'll be fine."  
"No it won't! He won't want to play with me."  
"Where is this coming from, Ali? You know Andrei loves playing with you."  
"But he'll have new sisters! Why would he spend time with me when he has them?"  
"But, sweetie, he already has sisters, and he plays with you all the time."  
"Alekz and Ana were already here! And he's mine."  
"What do you mean, he's yours? Ali, I really want to help you, you know I do. But I can't unless you tell me what you mean."  
"He's mine. And I'm his! Just like Ana is Alekz's. And Alekz is Ana's. He's _mine!"  
_"You mean he's your person? The one who protects you?"  
"_Yes!_" Ali was ecstatic that her mom finally got what she was saying, "Because we're twins."  
"Well, you don't have to worry about that, Ali. The next babies will be twins too."  
"Like us?"

Natasha nodded, and was delighted when she saw some of the brightness return to her daughter's eyes.

"That means that they'll have their own person to protect them. Andrei might still feel responsible, but it won't be the same way he feels responsible about you. Do you understand me?"  
Ali nodded, and gave her mother a hug, squeezing her as tightly as she could.

When she pulled back from her mom, she heard a voice at the door to the kitchen, "Aliya."  
She turned around quickly and saw her brother standing in the doorway. Natasha picked her up off the counter and set her on the floor, before walking them both to the living room. She told them to stay until they worked it out, and went back to making dinner. She knew better than to stay in the room whenever Andrei began a conversation by calling her Aliya. There would be yelling, and Ali might slap him, but Natasha knew there wouldn't be real damage done.

Andrei stared at his twin, causing Ali to shift uncomfortably.

"How long you listen?"  
"_Aliya._"  
"Andrei." She shot back.

He did this sometimes, pretended to be mad at her, but usually when she said his name back to him, he'd crack a smile, and they'd watch a movie.

But Andrei didn't smile this time.

"Aliya."  
"What?"  
"You're stupid."  
Ali's face crumpled. She was used to Ana and Alekz calling her names, something she usually ignored, but Andrei calling her stupid made her want to cry.

She did her best to keep the tears from falling, but a few managed to slip out, and when Andrei saw them, his tone and voice softened.

"I'm sorry, Ali. But you not need to worry 'bout stuff like that."  
Ali looked at him in confusion.

"I will love new babies, and so will you. But I always love you more."  
"Really?" Ali's voice was soft, as if she feared he'd laugh at her, and tell her he was joking.

Instead, he just nodded. "Really. You my girl. You my best friend. You make me happy when you happy."

Ali knew he was right, but she still felt like he'd abandon her for the new babies.

Andrei walked towards her and gave her a hug, which she returned after a moment.

"I always love you most."  
Ali nodded, and they silently agreed to put this behind them.

"JARVIS, please play Aladdin."  
"Right away, Miss. Ali."  
The twins settled onto the floor in front of the couch. Ali leaned her head against his shoulder, just as she'd seen her mom do to her dad, and Andrei replicated Clint's action of tracing patterns aimlessly on her hand.

When the singing started, Ali found that she wasn't in the mood to sing, so Andrei decided to sing the song to her in Russian.

He wasn't the best singer, but he had promise, and plenty of time, since he was only 3 years old.

Natasha came to retrieve the kids for dinner, but when she walked into the living room, she found them both lying down, asleep, with Aladdin finishing in the background. She stood and watched them sleeping for a moment, before she felt arms wrap around her waist.

She smiled as Clint pressed his lips to the back of her neck.

"Do you want to wake them up?" He whispered.  
She shook her head, "No. We'll eat, and if they wake up later and want to eat, we can re-heat some of the food."  
Clint nodded, and the two made their way back to their older children. Dinner passed quietly, and after putting Ana and Alekz to bed, Natasha and Clint went back to check on Ali and Andrei.

The kids were still sleeping, so their parents picked them up, and carried them to their rooms.

As Natasha was changing Ali into her pajamas, the little girl stirred.

"Hey, sleepyhead. Are you hungry?"  
Ali shook her head, reaching her arms out for a hug.

Natasha obliged, and wasn't the least bit surprised when Ali refused to let go, and instead buried her face into the side of Natasha's neck.

"Do you just want to go to bed?"  
Ali nodded into her mother's neck.

Natasha chuckled softly and finished getting Ali ready for bed.

She tucked her daughter in, and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

"Спокойной ночи, мой маленький ангел. Я так люблю тебя, Алия. Есть ночи счастливые сны, мой малыш." *

With that, she made sure that her daughter's bear was tucked securely under her arm, shut off the light, and exited the room, closing the door behind her.

Natasha made her way to her bedroom, where she filled Clint in on her talk with Ali, and what she assumed Andrei's talk with Ali had been about.

"That seems like a reasonable fear for her to have, completely unwarranted, but reasonable nonetheless."  
Natasha nodded with her husband, before curling up and drifting to sleep.

**Sorry it's been a while since I updated, I've been having some trouble with inspiration. I'm coming very close to finishing this story, probably only three more chapters after this, and some things are feeling a bit forced, so I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this chapter. I want to finish this before beginning the sequel, which I hope will be as good as this one.**

**Speaking of the sequel, leave a review, and tell me your vote on the options listed below:  
1) All funny, family loving moments  
2) All dramatic moments- which would most likely be in the form of multiple one shots  
or  
3) A mixture of both.**

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**

**Russian:**

***Good night, my little Angel. I love you so much, Aliya. Have a night of happy dreams, my baby.**


	18. Chapter 18

Now that Ali wasn't so worried about having new siblings, Natasha was able to focus more on the impending arrivals. She'd found out that they were having two girls, so she and Pepper went out to get new clothes for them, despite the fact that between the 6 girls they already had, they had plenty of clothes for two more. But they enjoyed shopping, especially when it was just the two of them.

So while Natasha, Pepper, and Clara- who was still too young for Pepper to feel comfortable leaving with someone else, even if that someone else had 4 of his own kids- went shopping, Clint watched over Ana, Alekz, Andrei, Ali, Livvy, and Abbie. He put everyone in the living room, and turned on a movie. About halfway through, Jane called Clint and asked if she could drop Mja and Jessica off while she went in to work, since Thor was on Asgard visiting his parents, and the girls were too young to use the bifrost. Clint agreed, and told Jane that the security system would be off, so she could just drive right up and let herself in.

They sowed up towards the end of the next movie, and while Mja and Jessica made their way in to hang out with their friends, Clint went into the kitchen and started lunch. When he was done, he asked Ana and Alekz to help get everyone into their place at the table, and he served them spaghetti and carrots, and milk.

Lunch passed relatively smoothly, Abbie was the only one to refuse to eat,

"Abbie, eat."  
"Nuh uh. Don't wanna."  
"Abbie, eat. Or I'll tell Mommy."  
Fear flickered across Abbie's face, and she quickly began shoveling food into her mouth, until Clint told her to slow down.

After lunch, Andrei, Ali, Abbie, and Jessica went to take their naps.

"Папа, мы можем пойти в спортзал, пожалуйста?"*  
"Of course, ребенок**"

The four of them made their way to the gym, where Livvy and Clint colored and Ana and Alekz worked on gymnastics.

Clint was helping Livvy choose a picture to color for Aunt Tasha, when he heard Alekz call his name

"Папа, Папа, Папа!"  
Clint looked up and saw Alekz standing on the balance beam.

"Alekz, what are you doing up there? You know you're not ready for anything up there."  
"Но, папа, я, я наблюдал, мама! Смотри, что я могу сделать прямо сейчас!"***

Before Clint could say anything else, or even move to pull Alekz off the beam, she'd done a back handspring on the beam, and landed perfectly, without a single wobble.

"См. папа?"****

Clint was shocked, and slightly terrified.

"That was pretty, ребенок. But please get off, until мама gets home, ok?"  
Alekz nodded, and climbed down, still clearly proud of herself.

Clint allowed his daughters to work on things on the floor for another 30 minutes, before he told them to go sit by Livvy while he went to wake the sleeping children.

He brought the kids back to the gym, and was happy to see Alekz still sitting by Livvy. His happiness dissipated, however, when he saw that Ana had taken her spot on the beam.

"Ali! What are you doing up there? I just told Alekz to get off!"  
"папа! Watch me!"  
Ana also did a perfect back handspring on the beam, before climbing off and skipping over to her father.

"Разве это не красивая, папа?"

"Ana, I told your sister not to be up there, so why would I let you be up there? I'm very disappointed in you, both of you." He said, turning to face Alekz as he spoke. "You both know the rules, you're not allowed on any of the equipment unless your mother is here, and she approves. I don't want either of you girls getting hurt, so I need you to listen to me. Ok?"  
The girls looked at each other, and nodded.

"Sorry, папа."  
"I know, ребенок"

He led the children out of the gym and back into the game room, where they could play and watch a movie until Natasha and Pepper returned.

They were halfway through _A Bug's Life_ when the ladies returned from their shopping trip, arms full of bags.

"мама! You're home!"  
"Hi, Ali. Yes, I am home. Were you good for папа?"

Ali nodded, along with her siblings and friends.  
Natasha caught Clint looking at Ana and Alekz, who were nodding along with Ali, and saw their sheepish faces when they caught his glare.

"Clint?"  
"Ana, Alekz, would you like to tell your mother what you did today?"  
Both girls shook their heads, refusing to look at either of their parents, choosing instead to focus on the floor.

"_Girls."_

Clint's voice was firm, and Natasha was getting worried.

Still, neither girl answered, so Clint decided to answer for them.

"Your eldest daughters thought it would be smart to disregard a rule in the gym. Alekz climbed onto the beam, and before I could get her off, she did a back handspring. After I told her not to get back on until you came home to supervise, she got off. But when I came back in with the kids who'd been napping, I found Ana up on the beam, and when I told her to get off, she too did a back handspring."  
Natasha sighed. It wasn't as bad as she'd feared, but she knew why Clint was annoyed. It was dangerous for the girls to be on the beam without a proper spot.

"Your father's right, girls. It's very dangerous for you to be up their without someone who is focusing on you. Папа was in the room with you, but he wasn't close enough. If something had happened, and you'd started to fall, he wouldn't have been able to catch you, and you could have gotten seriously injured. So I don't want either of you going on the big beam by yourself until I think you're ready, ok?"  
The girls nodded, and Ana raised her hand meekly.

"Yes, Ana?"  
"Can we still show you?"  
Natasha smiled slightly, and nodded, the girls smiled their mother, and led everyone back to the gym.

Natasha walked over with Ana and Alekz, and helped Alekz onto the beam, telling Ana to stand a few feet away, just in case.

Alekz pivoted, and looked at her mother for approval.

Natasha nodded, and Alekz completed the handspring just as she had earlier, without a single wobble.

"Very good, ребенок."

She helped Alekz off the beam, and gave her a hug and a kiss, before instructing her to switch places with Ana.

Natasha went through the same process with her oldest daughter, who also did the trick without a single wobble.

"That was beautiful, Ana."  
Her girls smiled at her, and Natasha decided that she'd start teaching them tumbling on the lower beams, so they'd have things to practice if she wasn't there.

The group left the gym and made their way back to the living room, where they continued the movie as they waited for Jane to pick her daughters up. When she arrived, they invited her to stay for dinner, but she declined, Thor was coming home that night, and she wanted to have a special dinner ready for him. They nodded, and everyone hugged their friends goodbye.

Tony was working in the lab, so Pepper knew he wouldn't miss her if she wasn't home for dinner. She helped Natasha make grilled cheese sandwiches, and everyone ate in the game room while watching _Cinderella_.

Around 10:00, after all the kids, except for Ana, Alekz, and Livvy had fallen asleep, Pepper decided it was time to go home. She had Livvy gather all their things, which easily fit into the girl's princess backpack, and hugged Clint and Natasha goodbye. She was about to wake Abbie up, since she could only carry one kid in addition to the other things she was carrying, and Livvy wasn't able to carry a baby and her backpack, but Clint picked the two-year-old up, and followed Pepper out to the car, along with Natasha. Clint got Abbie settled in her seat, and kissed the top of Livvy's head, before Pepper pulled out of the driveway.

They set the alarm once Pepper had called them, via Bluetooth, and helped their youngest kids up to bed.

They made their way back down, since Natasha wanted to talk to Ana and Alekz.

"Ana, Alekz, can we talk to you?"  
The girls nodded, and Clint had JARVIS mute the TV.

"Ok. So, yes, I'm impressed that you taught yourself a new skill today, but here's the reality. You can't do things like that. You girls are the oldest, which means that you have to set the example. I need you both to listen to me, at least on stuff that's dangerous, ok? It's your job to make sure that Andrei and Ali don't get hurt, and if they do something like you did today, they could easily be hurt, do you understand?"  
Ana and Alekz nodded.

"Ok. That's the last we're going to talk about this, because you're not going to do it again, are you?"  
They shook their heads, and Natasha smiled.

"Alright. Now, head upstairs, and get ready for bed, we'll be in shortly."  
The girls scampered off, and Natasha smiled after them.

10 minutes later, Clint and Natasha were leaving their daughter's rooms, and headed to their own.

Natasha went into the bathroom to wash her face, while Clint changed into a new pair of boxers and crawled under the covers.

"It was impressive, wasn't it?" Clint called to his wife.  
"Undoubtedly. I was wobbling on those until I was 8. And they're only four."  
"Think it was luck?"  
"Nah. It happened twice, and once was under pressure. Maybe I'm just that good at teaching them."  
"I'm sure that's it."

Natasha emerged from the bathroom, wearing one of his old sweatshirts and a pair of his boxers.

"Sarcasm isn't going to benefit you, Barton."  
Clint chuckled at his wife, who smile in response. She climbed in next to him, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to him, his fingers drawing patterns on her bump.

"Goodnight, Tasha."  
"Goodnight, Clint."  
He kissed her head, just as she kissed his chest, and the curled still closer together as they fell asleep.

**Sorry it's been so long, my inspiration in waning, but I've already written the first chapter of the sequel, which will be up as soon as I write the next two chapters.**

**Your options for the sequel are as follows:**

**1) All funny, family loving moments  
2) All dramatic moments- which would most likely be in the form of multiple one shots  
or  
3) A mixture of both.**

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**

**Russian:**

***Daddy, can we go to the gym, please?  
**Baby  
***** **But, daddy, I am, I watched mommy! Look what I can do now!  
****See, Daddy?**


	19. Chapter 19

The rest of the pregnancy passed quickly, and before Natasha could believe it, she was sitting in a hospital bed, holding one of her new daughters. She honestly couldn't remember her water breaking, or any of the time she'd spent at the hospital before they were born, but here they were.

Alexis Zaria Barton-Romanoff and Anja Kira Barton-Romanoff.

Her newest daughters.

She looked up from Alexis, and watched Clint holding Anja.

"Clint?"  
"Yes, Моя любовь?"  
"Can we be done having kids?"  
Clint chuckled, "Yeah, I think we can be done."  
At that moment, the door opened, and Ana, Alekz, Andrei, and Ali entered the room, eager to meet their new sisters.

They all climbed onto the bed, and peeked at the babies.

"Hi, guys."  
"Hi, мама."

They family grew quiet, all of them getting acquainted with the newest arrivals.

Eventually, the rest of the team, and their children, walked in, and the babies were passed around.

Everyone was shocked to see how much the little girls looked like Clint. They had sandy blonde hair, and, once they woke up, gray-blue eyes that matched his and Ali's perfectly.

After what seemed like only a short while, a nurse came in and informed the group that visiting hours had ended, and that they'd need to leave, but that Natasha would be released the next day.

Pepper and Tony took Ana, Alekz, Andrei, and Ali back to the tower with them, while Steve went to keep watch over the nursery, just like he always did.

* * *

The first few months at home were easy. Alexis and Anja seemed to be just like their siblings: very quiet.

About 8 months after they were born, the family was sitting in the living room, watching a Disney movie, when Clint's phone rang.

He answered, and a look of shock crossed his face. He hung up shortly thereafter, but made no move to speak or do _anything_.

"Clint?" Natasha was worried, and Ana and Alekz were picking up on it.  
"He's dead."  
"Who, Clint?"  
"Barney. He-he's dead."

Natasha carefully placed Anja on the floor next to Ana and asked he oldest daughters to look after the little kids.

She made her way over to her husband, and pulled him to his feet, leading him form the room.

When they got to their bedroom, she pushed him onto the couch in front of the fire.

"What happened?"  
"I don't know. They just called me and said that he had died. They think it was an intentional O.D."

Natasha nodded sympathetically, reaching out to hold his hand.

"I don't even know why I'm surprised. He was just like our father; he'd do anything to be able to escape. I don't even know why I'm upset."  
"You're upset because you just lost your brother. I know you weren't on the best of terms, but he was the last real connection you had to your mother. And now that's gone."  
Clint looked up at his wife finally, and she could see the tears welled up in his eyes.

"It's ok to cry, Clint. It's ok to miss him. You said yourself once that he wasn't always like that."  
Clint nodded, remembering the Barney from before their parents died. The one who would push Clint out of the way and take their father's beatings by himself. The Barney who taught him about baseball and football.

The Barney that had insisted that they remain together after their parents died.

"You're right, Tash. I do have good memories of him."  
Natasha smiled at her husband, before standing up and leaving him in their room. She knew him well enough to know that he'd be fine, but he just needed time to himself.

So Natasha spent the rest of the day with the kids, letting them do whatever they wanted. She had Ana and Alekz help her make dinner while Andrei and Ali played on the floor with Alexis and Anja.

And when Clint finally came down to eat with them, she could see that he was doing better then he'd been earlier.

"I called them back, and they said that the people from the AA meetings he went to were arranging his funeral, and he gave me their number. I called them, and found the info, it's this weekend, and I think I'll go."  
Natasha nodded, "AA? Was he getting clean?"  
"I guess so. The guy I talked to said he'd been going regularly. He hadn't talked, but he'd listened to the other people. He also said that Barney was going on a year alcohol free."  
"Really? But they said he overdosed?"  
"Actually, they found out that what killed him was liver failure. He drank so much that it destroyed his liver, and he was clean long enough to be put on the transplant list."  
Natasha nodded, and they made their way over to the table to eat.

Dinner was a quiet affair, with everyone off in their own world. When everyone was done eating, Natasha sent the kids off to the living room to watch another movie and color or whatever else they wanted to do, while she and Clint took care of clearing the table and doing the dishes.

When they were done, they took Anja and Alexis to their room and put them to sleep, before helping their other children get ready for bed. Once they kissed their children goodnight, Clint and Natasha made their way back to their bedroom, where they too got ready for bed.

As they drifted off, Clint wrapped his arms tightly around his wife, holding her closely to his own body.

"I honestly thought I wouldn't care when he died. I never thought I'd care this much about him again."  
"Of course you care, Clint. You're not the kind of person to stop caring once you've started."

Clint smiled in response, and kissed his wife's head. Natasha leaned up and kissed his lips, before rolling over, and pulling Clint up right behind her, allowing him to curl himself around her, just like he'd done every night for as long as she could remember falling asleep with him.

* * *

**So, I'm deciding to end the story here. I know it ends kind of strangely, but I really wanted to get started on the sequel, which will be posted shortly.**

**Thank you to everyone who has stuck through this story from the beginning. All the reviews and happy comments make me feel like my writing is appreciated by more than just myself.**

**Please take a look at the sequel, Мои ангелы (My Angels) When you get a chance. **

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


End file.
